Identity and Benefit Fraud

Immigration fraud poses a severe threat to national security and public safety because it creates a vulnerability that may enable terrorists, criminals, and illegal aliens to gain entry to and remain in the United States. A concentrated national effort to combat immigration fraud aids many other programs in accomplishing their goals and objectives. Identity and benefit fraud are elements of many immigration-related issues such as human smuggling and trafficking, critical infrastructure protection, worksite and compliance enforcement and national security investigations. Immigration fraud is also a component of other types of fraud involving state driver’s licenses, state-issued public assistance and Social Security fraud. The Identity and Benefit Fraud Unit (IBFU) also coordinates its efforts with other ICE entities such as the Office of Intelligence and other components of the Department of Homeland Security such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), as well as other federal agencies such as the Department of State and Department of Labor.

Definitions

• Benefit Fraud - the willful misrepresentation of material fact on a petition or application to gain an immigration benefit. Benefit fraud is an extremely lucrative form of white-collar crime that is complex and challenging to investigate, often involving sophisticated schemes and multiple co-conspirators that take years to investigate and prosecute. Benefit fraud has serious consequences, because the perpetrator gains an immigration benefit even though it was obtained fraudulently.



• Identity fraud - also known as document fraud, is the manufacturing, counterfeiting, alteration, sale and/or use of identity documents and other fraudulent documents to circumvent immigration laws or for other criminal activity. Identity fraud does not itself confer lawful status upon the perpetrator. Identity fraud often underlies or supports the crime of benefit fraud. Identity fraud in some cases also involves identity theft, a crime in which an imposter takes on the identity of a real person (living or deceased) for some illegal purpose.

Document and Benefit Fraud Task Forces

Officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of State and other agencies have announced the creation of Document and Benefit Fraud Task Forces in 10 major U.S. cities to combat the growing problems of document fraud and immigration benefits fraud. Read More