The San Diego City Attorney’s Office is warning the community about immigration scams targeting people seeking legal advice, including those looking for immigration attorneys. Officials say scammers are reaching potential victims through phone calls, text messages, social media and even WhatsAp p, often requesting sensitive information or upfront payments for legal services. Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee, said fear and uncertainty around immigration law changes are making people more vulnerable. “There’s a lot of desperation right now in the community. A lot of people don’t know what, changes are taking place in immigration law, and that makes them prone to being susceptible for scams. So people that want to take advantage of them and, any sort of offer that might give someone hope opens up possibility of them being, scammed from people that are just wanting to take advantage of the situation.” City Attorney Heather Ferbert is urging people to carefully verify anyone offering immigration legal services. Rios said the first step is making sure the person handling the case is a certified immigration attorney. “Point number one is to ensure that if this is about an immigration case, that the person they’re seeing is an immigration attorney, not someone who’s not certified. So someone who’s an immigration attorney who has, reputable, background, someone who is able to provide a contract with clear instructions about how payments should be made and the expectations for the outcome of the case.” Rios said officials have seen cases where trusted members of the community aim to take advantage of that trust. “We have seen in the past where, persons who are even well-liked in the community bring people forward, promise that they will assist them with their immigration cases and take their money.” In some cases, victims have lost thousands of dollars. Rios said people should consult two or three attorneys before moving forward to compare possible outcomes and ensure the information they are receiving makes sense. “If you are having a victim of a scam, there are measures that one can take that you can take in order to hold those individuals accountable. And we have seen cases in the past where because people don’t speak out, that a person is scamming people all over the community, especially if they’ve built a reputation of someone that should be trusted. So trust should not be enough to ensure that the case they are handling will move forward. Let’s, encourage people to, do their due diligence, investigate who that immigration attorney is so that ultimately they can have the best outcome for their specific case.” Anyone who believes they have been a victim of this type of scam is urged to report the incident to local police, the California Department of Justice and the State Bar of California. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less