TEL AVIV'S FRAUD SUMMARY FOR MARCH 2009

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000763 DEPT FOR CA/FPP, SARAH SEXTON DEPT FOR DS/CR/OCI, GALEN NACE ROME FOR DHS/ICE CA/FPP: PLEASE PASS DHS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CVIS CMGT CPAS PTER ASEC KFRD IS SUBJECT: TEL AVIV'S FRAUD SUMMARY FOR MARCH 2009 REFTELS: A) TEL AVIV 423, B) TEL AVIV 538 ¶A. COUNTRY CONDITIONS ¶1. Israel is a highly westernized nation with a vibrant democracy and strong economy. It boasts a high literacy rate, a high GDP, and relatively low unemployment. It is also a nation that travels. However, while visa demand peaked in summer 2008, it has declined during the reporting period, presumably due to the global economic crisis. ¶2. As of 31 January 2008, the Israeli government estimated its population at 7,382,200 residents (not including foreigners),of whom 75.5% are Jewish and 20.2% are Arab. Almost one million of the 1,477,000 Arab citizens are Sunni Muslim. Other religions/ethnicities, including Christians, Druze and Armenians make up 318,000 or 20 percent of Israel's non-Jewish population. Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reports that Israel's population grew by only 1.8 percent in 2008, with higher growth rates reported in the Arab population. ¶3. Israel has been affected by the recent global economic crisis. In the second quarter of 2008, Israel experienced its lowest unemployment rate in two decades - 5.9%. However, CBS reports that that downward trend has reversed: in the fourth quarter 2008 it hit 6.3% and by the end of January 2009, it had already reached 6.9%. The major newspapers - Ha'aretz, the Jerusalem Post and Ynet - all report an increase in lay-offs compared to the previous year, particularly in the formerly robust high-tech sector. In the month of January, YNet reported that approximately 20,000 Israelis were laid off. Also of note is that the GOI estimates it has more than 225,000 illegal foreign workers. According to Yaacov Ganot, an Immigration Authority official, each year approximately 5,000 are added to this pool of illegal workers. The majority of foreign workers today - legal and illegal - are from Asia and South America. Foreign workers tend to be employed mainly in domestic service, construction, agriculture, and as caregivers. ¶B. NIV FRAUD ¶4. In 2008, CBS reported 2,096,300 departures out of Israel. Of these, 96.3% stay out of the country for one month or less. Only 0.4% stayed out more than one year. Generally, intending immigration is not the main problem with Post's NIV cases because overwhelmingly, traveling Israelis do return home. However, with the economic downturn and continuing efforts to combat Dead Sea-related illegal work/fraud within the post-army demographic group, Post's NIV refusal rate steeply increased. From October 1, 2007 to March 24, 2008, the host-country national, adjusted B1/B2 refusal rate was .97%; for the same period in 2008-2009, it rose to 3.46%. Interestingly, in February, the Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv, on orders from their government, tightened its visa issuance guidelines as they, too, discovered that quite a few Israelis were working illegally during their post-army trips. For this reporting period, 92 cases of potential fraud were referred to the Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU). ¶5. DEAD SEA PRODUCTS AND ILLEGAL WORKERS - UPDATE: Please see REFTEL A for specific information on the Post's efforts to combat fraud in the Dead Sea cosmetics and skincare industry. FPU TLV, ICE ROME, ARSO/I TLV, DS/ICI/WFO, FDNS and CBP at POE continue to work closely to combat this fraud and illegal employment in the United States. Line officers continue to create detailed and specific case notes for applicants in this problematic post-army demographic. In addition, in consultation with CBP, line officers are also annotating visas with the applicant's stated purpose of initial travel as indicated during the visa interview. Annotations such as "FIRST TRIP: Traveling with parents" can encourage CBP to take a second look at these applicants if the annotation does not match what the applicant presents to CBP. The FPM, through her CBP contacts, recently was notified of several POE turnarounds for this very reason. Two otherwise qualified applicants applied for visas in Tel Aviv with credible stories about being university students traveling during their school holiday. The adjudicating officer annotated the visa about the planned first trip, and added extensive notes in the CCD. At POE, the students' story had changed markedly and CBP discovered that they intended to work illegally. CBP and ICE have commended Post for their work in this area. ¶6. THIRD COUNTRY NATIONAL FRAUD: Line officers discovered a recent trend in which staff members of the Nigerian Embassy to Israel apply for visas using what appeared to be genuine diplomatic notes. These staff members are Nigerians employed locally by their embassy, not diplomats. Post HAS established an SOP for dealing with these cases and their documentation. ¶7. H2B FRAUD: FPU is tracking "Available Locksmiths," a company that purportedly brings over locksmiths from Israel to work in the United States on H2B visas. Most of these applicants lack the qualifications to work as locksmiths and locksmith assistants. ARSO/I and FDNS LN are jointly combating these fraudulent petitions while Post is working to have these petitions revoked. REFTEL A also mentions the locksmith issue. ¶8. TRAVEL AGENT DOCUMENT FRAUD: In a true example of team work, Post recently uncovered what appears to be widespread fraud emanating from one travel agency. A line officer adjudicating two cases for applicants under the age of fourteen noticed discrepancies in the applications accepted through the postal drop-off system. The officer worked with FPU to interview the applicants' families. Through further research, FPU noticed that the cases were submitted via the same email address. A CCD text search revealed approximately 270 cases with this same contact data over the past three years. The remarks for these refused cases have a similar narrative: travel for honeymoon or a friend's wedding. In the case remarks, officers indicated that these stories did not make sense. The majority of the applicants were from northern Israel and approximately two-thirds were Israeli Arabs. More recent applicants associated with this vendor have been Georgian immigrants living in the greater Tel Aviv area. ¶9. When FPU contacted the owner of this travel agency posing as a potential applicant, the owner said that he was not running a travel agency, but that he was an Embassy employee doing business from home. The owner told FPU that she could pay the equivalent of 900 USD to receive a visa and also stated that he would arrange all documentation, prepare her for the interview and coordinate her application "with his people at the Embassy." A watch phrase has been entered on this e-mail address, and each application originating from this address is now submitted for FPU investigation. ARSO/I is also working with FPU to research all cases with similar email or phone numbers associated with this travel agency; he feels that this case will meet the threshold for prosecution in Israel. ¶C. and D. IV and DV FRAUD -N/A due to the transfer of Post's IV workload to ConGen Jerusalem in April 2008. ¶E. ACS & PASSPORT FRAUD -- Egg and sperm donation continues to be an issue at Post. Please see REFTEL B for more information on this issue. ¶10. FRAUDULENT PHYSICAL PRESENCE DOCUMENTATION: ACS's largest area of concern is fraudulent physical presence documents for CRBA cases under Sections 301 and 309 of the INA. For transmission under 301(c),the definition of "residence" in the United States has not been fully or specifically defined by Consular Affairs or by the INA. However, following guidance from Consular Affairs, work, study, or birth in the United States constitutes residence, whereas vacation or visiting family in the United States does not constitute residence for the purpose of citizenship transmission. In several CRBA cases of transmission under both Sections 301 and 309, the family attempting to register a child as a U.S. citizen will submit incorrect Affidavits of Physical Presence and/or falsified documents in order to "prove" that the parent resided in the United States. The most commonly discovered fraudulent documents are falsified school letters, transcripts and report cards, and letters purportedly from neighbors. ¶11. CERTIFICATES OF NATURALIZATION: Post continues to receive at least one case per month referred from Israeli airport immigration authorities involving problematic Certificates of Naturalization. These certificates list the holder's nationality but not the place of birth, enabling people to conceal POB. The referred cases involve naturalized U.S. citizens who concealed their Israeli nationality, changed their place of birth and, on some occasions, altered their names when they applied for their first U.S. passport. Some Americans claim they obtained their U.S. passports with false places of birth in order to protect themselves from potential terrorists. These cases do not appear to be linked to any serious criminality or terrorism. However, we remain skeptical of the stories people use to justify the "errors"; both CONS and DS continue to investigate the cases. Because the DS-11 does not require a recently-naturalized Amcit to present a birth certificate or other evidence documenting POB, Post will likely continue to see cases of falsified POBs. ¶12. FALSIFIED ADDRESS ON SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER APPLICATIONS: Post has recently seen a spate of FBU fraud involving falsified addresses on SS-5 (Social Security Number) applications. The two FBU claims representatives have caught at least one dozen SS-5 applications listing a falsified address within Post's consular district when the applicant actually resides in Jerusalem's consular district. Most of these applications have come from one company in Beit Shemesh. ACS is currently working with the ARSO/I to further investigate this. ¶F. ADOPTION FRAUD --N/A ¶G. DNA TESTING --Nothing to report. ¶H. ASYLUM AND DHS BENEFIT FRAUD -- Nothing to report. ¶I. ALIEN SMUGGLING, TRAFFICKING, ORGANIZED CRIME, TERRORIST TRAVEL ¶13. This quarter, Post revoked a known main organized crime (OC) family member's visa based upon law enforcement information received indicating that the person would be traveling imminently to the United States to "eliminate" a prosecutorial witness in a local OC court case. FPU also has compiled a list of the main organized OC families and its members. Post is in the process of drafting a reporting cable on OC in Israel. Post increased its extradition efforts after last fall's spate of OC killings in Tel Aviv and nearby areas, including a car bomb that killed the head of a major crime family, the Alperons. ARSO/I is now vetting FPU's OC list with the Israeli National Police's open source material. ¶J. DS CRIMINAL FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS ¶14. Our ARSO/I is an invaluable member of Post's fraud prevention team. Currently, he has an ongoing investigation into two individuals working as visa fixers claiming to be U.S. Embassy employees. These fixers prey on the poor and vulnerable religious communities because they tend not to talk to law enforcement officials. However, the ARSO/I did convince one individual to come forward and press fraud charges. ¶15. The ARSO/I and FPU successfully completed their first fraud case tried within the Israeli court system. The father and son owners of Baron Tours pled guilty to 26 counts of providing fraudulent documents in conjunction with conspiracy to commit fraud against the U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv. They will be sentenced in September. ¶K. HOST COUNTRY PASSPORT, IDENTITY DOCUMENTS, AND CIVIL REGISTRY ¶16. Israel has begun moving towards developing a biometric database including identification cards and passports. This initiative continues to be delayed by the Israeli legislative process, which needs to amend laws to permit collection of additional biometric data. ¶L. COOPERATION WITH HOST GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES ¶17. Post's contacts with host government officials in the Ministry of Interior, Israeli National Police, Border Patrol, Airport officials and the Israeli Defense Forces continue to be robust. As mentioned in section I, Embassy Tel Aviv and the GOI are working closely to confirm information about those who may be connected to organized crime or have criminal backgrounds of concern to the United States Government. ¶M. AREAS OF PARTICULAR CONCERN --None to report ¶N. STAFFING AND TRAINING + ¶18. The Fraud Prevention Team met with Israeli Border Police at Ben Gurion Airport to discuss entry and exit policies, as well as share best practices in identifying fraudulent documents, suspicious travelers, etc. This meeting helped the team learn more about how the Israelis screen incoming travelers, as well as build closer contacts within the host government. ¶19. FPU Tel Aviv has also developed a close relationship with FPU Jerusalem. Applicants living in Israel are able to apply at either Mission (note: this is not the case for FBU),making collaboration between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem critical. ARSO/I has been coordinating information sharing between both consular sections and with the ARSO in Jerusalem who handles the fraud portfolio. ¶20. Tel Aviv's FPU consists of a Fraud Prevention Manager (Deputy Consul General and NIV Chief Wendy Vincent),a full-time Fraud Investigator (Ariella Shamash),a JO who handles the daily fraud portfolio, and two NIV FSN backups for the Fraud Investigator. ¶21. Post's Back-up Fraud Investigators provided one-on-one fraud training to two newly arrived JOs in this reporting period. CUNNINGHAM