Immigration lawyers slam scammers stealing their identities and offering fraudulent services

ImmigrationImmigration lawyers slam scammers stealing their identities and offering fraudulent servicesImmigration attorneys are having to take down sites and social media channels as scammers use AI, deepfakes and cloned domains to impersonate them and scam clients.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Angel Leal Jr., an immigration attorney practicing in Doral, Fla., whose image, name and even voice was cloned with artificial intelligence to scam immigrant clients. Telemundo NewsShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJune 4, 2026, 10:30 AM EDTBy Albinson LinaresImmigration attorney Angel Leal Jr.’s face changes when he talks about how his life has changed since he became a victim of identity theft. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.“I don’t have enough words to describe these subhuman people, because that’s what they are. They take advantage of other people’s needs, understanding that there is fear in the community, understanding that people are scared,” says Leal, who practices immigration law in Doral, Florida, and whose image and name and even his voice have been cloned with artificial intelligence to deceive desperate immigrants seeking to regularize their status.That’s what hurts him the most, he says with indignation — the harm done to his Hispanic community — because the scammers aren’t targeting just him.Leal barely contains his anger as he describes how the fraud includes fake contracts bearing his firm’s logo, forged signatures, websites that mimic his site with minimal variations and, most disturbingly, entirely fabricated immigration hearings at which victims believe they are being granted residency or citizenship. “It’s all a lie; they’ve gone to those extremes,” he says. Leal’s case is not an exception. The Federal Trade Commission reported that last year, more than 1 million identity theft scams were reported in the U.S., with losses exceeding $3.5 billion. It’s an increase of nearl...