FAST DOWNLOAD
A Honduran migrant in the United States fell into the trap of scammers who paid them $350 for a passport, equivalent to almost 8,700 lempiras.
The scammers posed as consular agents, according to Telemundo 52 in Los Angeles.
One of the imposters “told me that yes, they would get the passport. That there was a person from the consulate who would make the appointment, and that one did not have to go there and that in two days, when I paid them, the passport would arrive at my house,” shared Honduran Lizzethe Herrera.
“Since I needed my passport, I did it,” he added, but when they demanded $250 more, he realized it was all a fraud.
The scammer asked for additional money under the excuse that the Honduran woman’s passport was being held by Immigration.
“It’s not common for this to happen, but bad luck happened to you,” Herrera recalled the impostor telling him to justify charging him more money.
To make themselves look credible, they use tricks, including using the name and photograph of a well-known immigration lawyer from Los Angeles.
“He told me that a person named Alma Rosa Nieto was going to call me to interview me,” Herrera said.
Nieto, when asked about the case, said that these are unscrupulous people and asked people not to trust offers that seem very attractive or to make payments through social networks.
Use common sense
Vice-Chancellor Toni García told tunota that it is difficult to prevent situations in which scammers make advertisements promising a passport in three days by mail.
“People should have common sense and not fall into these traps. It’s an entire industry and they do it with all vulnerable nationalities,” said the diplomat.
“We must not be fooled,” Garcia said.
He explained that Honduran passports are electronic and that one must be present to process them, “and go through many security filters in which three institutions are involved.”
He also clarified that it is impossible to issue a fake passport, as handwritten passports are a thing of the past.
García explained that they do not have specific information, as in the case of the Honduran woman, but assured that “our passport stock is carefully controlled by each consul.”
US Passport Prices
The price of a Honduran passport in the United States is $50 with a validity of five years in a consulting office and $78 if processed at a mobile consulate.
While the ten-year validity card costs $75 at a consulting office and $97.50 at a mobile consulate, according to information provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
