FOR RELEASE: Fraud Prevention Initiatives Against

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 001606

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR CA/FPP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS KFRD ASEC SMIG DR
SUBJECT: FOR RELEASE: Fraud Prevention Initiatives Against
Visa-Fixers

REF: SANTO DOMINGO 001235

1) (U) Summary: As detailed in post's most recent consular fraud
summary (see ref),the level of fraud at post is extremely high and
post is beset by the operations of visa-fixers. "Buscones," as
visa-fixers are known locally, may impersonate consular officials
and often operate in the vicinity of the consular section. Two
recent initiatives at post address these problems: first the Fraud
Prevention Unit (FPU) updated a "Buscones" poster identifying
persons known to impersonate consular employees; secondly the
ARSO-I in coordination with local police intensified regular
operations against buscones working in the immediate vicinity of
the consular section. End Summary.





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"Buscones" Poster

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2) (U) Our "Buscones" poster contains the names and photos of 50
local individuals known to have impersonated U.S. Embassy officials
and/or employees in order to defraud prospective visa applicants.
The poster simply states, "These persons are not employees of the
American Embassy" and provides FPU contact information. We display
it prominently in our consular waiting areas and have distributed
approximately 50 copies to various GODR offices including the
National Police (PN) Anti-Fraud Unit and public prosecutors'
offices. FPU and ARSO-I personnel conducting investigations and
local officials taking complaints from victims of fraud regularly
use the poster to assist in identification of buscones. Although
we never officially released it to the public, the poster received
front-page coverage in the local press. The media attention
generated many calls to consular and local officials from victims
of consular-related fraud. In response the PN officer assigned to
the consular section (reftel explains this placement) has guided
these callers through the process of filing criminal complaints
("denuncias") in order to facilitate the subsequent arrest of
several buscones. The arrests publicly demonstrate the serious
consequences of fraud and misrepresentation and have increased the
local awareness level of the buscones' con game.



3) (SBU) The case of one particular impersonator demonstrates how
much is at stake for buscones and their victims. Elsy Gertrudis
Gonzalez Cavallo claimed to be a consular section employee
promising several visa applicants that she could assist them in
obtaining a visa. Multiple complaints were filed against her with
visa applicants defrauded of as much as $15,000 USD. Based on
these "denuncias" Dominican authorities obtained a warrant and
recently arrested her. She is currently incarcerated, serving one
month in preventative custody while the case against her is
developed. The FPU and ARSO-I have long known of Gonzalez
Cavallo's activities and facilitated her arrest once before. In
that instance she used her influence to arrange for release from
custody even before arriving at the police station for processing.
The drastically different results of her most recent arrest reflect
the success of ARSO-I efforts to cultivate good working relations
with local prosecutors, and furthermore confirm the advantage of
developing solid cases with multiple complaints.





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Push-Back Operations

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4) (U) Visa-fixers operate openly on the streets bordering our
consular section, selling fake documents and visa packets as well
as victimizing unwary applicants. Buscones often convince
legitimate applicants of the need for additional forms or
"corrections" to their applications offering to "assist" (and often
defrauding) them at inflated prices. To confront this situation we
designed a push-back operation, to improve safety on the streets in

SANTO DOMI 00001606 002 OF 002


front of the consular section by clearing an area beyond the actual
waiting line. National Police assigned to crowd control at our
facility ordered all non-applicants back an additional 20 meters,
thus allowing applicants to get legitimate information from
consular personnel and to get documents in order without being
accosted by aggressive visa-fixers.



5) (U) On the morning of November 16, the Anti-Fraud Department of
the National Police (PN) carried out an aggressive operation
against buscones working in the vicinity of the Consular Section.
The PN arrested nine, and impounded one mobile bus set up with
computers, internet access, photo services, etc. used to facilitate
their activities. A similar operation on November 24 resulted in
the arrest of four visa-fixers. Although all of those arrested
were released within 24 hours after routine processing, the
operations have had a noticeable effect in pushing the buscones
activities further back from the consular section. The ARSO-I
remains in continuous coordination with PN authorities to arrest
and prosecute these visa-fixers as future opportunities arise.





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Teamwork and Strategy Pay Off

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6) (U) We are fortunate to have an outstanding consular team
working cooperatively with the FPU and ARSO-I to employ creative,
outside-of-the-box thinking and tactics in the pursuit of mala fide
applicants and visa fixers. These recent arrests showcase success
of the team's hard work. Septel will follow detailing further
public outreach efforts to inform visa applicants and discourage
them from turning to buscones for assistance. Additional arrests
and local prosecution of persons involved in consular fraud will
also be reported septel.



LAMBERT
Lambert