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Cablegate: Dakar Fraud Summary - Fourth Quarter Fy2006

VZCZCXRO0311
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #2661 3070721
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030721Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6788 ZDK ONLY
INFO RUEHPNH/NVC PORTSMOUTH 0906
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHFN/AMEMBASSY FREETOWN 0843

UNCLAS DAKAR 002661

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR CA/FPP
DEPT PASS TO KCC
PARIS FOR DHS/ICE
ECOWAS POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS KFRD CPAS CMGT ASEC KSTC SG
SUBJECT: DAKAR FRAUD SUMMARY - FOURTH QUARTER FY2006

REF: A) 05 STATE 205073
B) FREETOWN 666
C) DAKAR 1780
D) DAKAR 1802

1. Following is Embassy Dakar's quarterly fraud reporting cable for
the fourth quarter (July-September) of FY2006. Responses are keyed
to Reftel A.

2.A. COUNTRY CONDITIONS: No change since last quarterly report.

B. NON-IMMIGRANT (NIV) FRAUD: No change since last quarterly
report.

C. IMMIGRANT VISA (IV) FRAUD: In this quarter, Post returned 37
petitions to USCIS for review with the recommendation that they be
revoked.

D. DV FRAUD: Thirty percent of the cases that the Fraud Prevention
Unit (FPU) resolved in fiscal year 2006 were fraudulent. Eighty
percent of the fraudulent cases involved fake baccalaureate
certificates. On September 30, post had 22 pending DV2006 cases in
the FPU that were suspended.

E. ACS AND PASSPORT FRAUD: Post denied two American passports
because of false claims to U.S. citizenship. In one case, the
applicant, age 29, was applying for his first passport and was
unable to provide any evidence of identity other than a birth
certificate. The second case involved an applicant who was
previously denied in 2005 as an imposter. The applicant still could
not present any evidence of his identity.

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F. ADOPTION FRAUD: During this quarter, Post requested that Embassy
Freetown conduct 7 field investigations to confirm the orphan status
of children adopted in Sierra Leone. Field investigations continue
to reveal widespread adoption fraud in Sierra Leone. In one
particularly disturbing case (Reftel B), the birth mother, who
allegedly died of a miscarriage, was alive and had been attempting
to regain custody of her son. Post is also seeing an increase in
K-1 female beneficiaries who claim adopted children as derivatives.
In many cases the derivatives are much older than the K-1
applicants.

G. ASYLUM AND OTHER DHS BENEFITS FRAUD: In the past, Senegalese
immigration authorities cooperated with Post whenever passengers
with suspicious U.S. Refugee Travel Documents (I-571) and
Authorization for Parole of an Alien into the United States (I-512L)
tried to board a South African Airways flight to the U.S. (Reftels C
and D). Unfortunately, the FPU has not received any suspicious
documents from Senegalese immigration authorities since the consular
section found the Deputy Director of the Special Airport Police
Agency's three children ineligible for nonimmigrant visas on 13
September 2006. FPM is following up with airport authorities to
encourage continued cooperation.

H. COOPERATION WITH HOST GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES: See paragraph G.

I. AREA OF PARTICULAR CONCERN: Significant numbers of Senegalese
continue to migrate illegally to Spain. According to media reports,
parents are sending their child between 12 and 17 years on fishing
boats to the Canary Islands because it is more difficult for Spain
to repatriate unaccompanied minors.

An Amcit told Conoff that he obtained a genuine, but falsely issued
Senegalese entry stamp from a Senegalese immigration official at the
airport for CFA 10,000 (USD 20). This confirms how easy it is for
people to obtain genuine, but falsely issued entry and exit stamps
for Senegal.

J. STAFFING AND TRAINING: No changes since last quarterly report.

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