MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) — Latin American migrants making their often-arduous journey to the United States frequently fall victim to scams that can amount to thousands of dollars in losses paid to fraudulent businesses that spread disinformation and prey on the vulnerable.

The scammers range from human traffickers — often referred to as coyotes — to social media influencers, and many of them fraudulently pose as work recruiters, legal advisers or immigration coaches.

Most of the impostors take advantage of the many twists and turns in US immigration policy, tricking migrants into paying for fake legal advice, work visas, political asylum or alternative ways to cross the US-Mexico border.

About a quarter of migrants surveyed earlier this month said they received messages offering immigration services and jobs, mainly via Facebook and WhatsApp.

Two thirds of the 210 surveyed said they fell victim to some sort of fraud or disinformation. One migrant said he spent US$1,500 on a form that turned out to be fake.

In Mexico, 5,684 complaints of crimes against migrants were reported from 2016 to November 2022, according to Mexico’s interior ministry. Of these, 1,849 were classified as illicit trafficking, 2,655 as theft and only eight as fraud.

Pursuing a fraud complaint is complicated. Migrants typically enlist the help of an independent organisation such as Center for Migrant Rights, the nonprofit Al Otro Lado or a migrant shelter like CafeMin. Migrants often continue their attempt to cross the border, and if they succeed, they abandon their case.

As a result, misinformation and scams continue to flourish — and go unpunished, with scammers using social networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Tiktok to target migrants.

Migrants can lose anywhere from US$1 to US$20,000 per person overall in the scams, according to social media posts monitored during May and June and testimonies collected from migrants in early June.

Mercedes Pérez got in touch via social media with Jaime Díaz Márquez, who posed as an employee of an American religious organisation and promised to get political asylum in the US for her and 14 relatives. Pérez said he asked for US$55 for each family member in exchange for processing a parole, a temporary permit the US grants for urgent humanitarian reasons to allow migrants to stay in the country for at least a year without a visa.

In a Facebook Live broadcast, Díaz Márquez assured the family they would be able to pick up their papers and cross the border legally on December 9, 2022. He later deleted videos and didn’t post again. Mercedes said she lost US$770, and received nothing in return.

She reported the alleged fraud to Al Otro Lado, and was directed to file a complaint with local authorities. Ultimately, she declined to do so for fear of retaliation.

“When he arrived, there was nothing — just ghosts,” Reyes said.

Jorge Gallo, regional press officer for the UN’s International Organization for Migration, said that many migrants “get into huge debts to be able to pay for the services of these coyotes and in many cases they lose everything.”

Gallo says coyotes sometimes simply abandon migrants in the middle of a border crossing, exposing them to danger and even risking their lives.