BS Summary: This video contains 27 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Appeal to Authority, and Burden of Proof, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 35% saturation with 163 hits. Analysis detected 1,288 faulty-reasoning hits from 466 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 100% and a BS Rank of 100% (68 of 16,813 videos). This video is worse (more manipulative) than 99.60% of the video peer group.
At quick glance, this looks like a real courtroom.
There's the judge on the bench, the seal in the background,
>> and this looks like a legit immigration proceeding with an officer in uniform,
and the agency logo on the wall. But authorities and lawyers say this is all fake.
Part of a trend of sophisticated scams to take advantage of vulnerable people desperate for help.
People like Edith, a young mother of one-year-old Justin.
Edith is a citizen. Her husband is not.
And when he was placed in ICE custody, she sought legal help online from someone she thought was a Florida based lawyer.
She began asking for money, 500, 600,750, 4,800,750 for the bond petition copies.
She told us the woman kept in constant touch and asked her to fill out form after form,
including these purportedly from the federal agency that handles immigration services.
The agency told ABC News it did not send those messages.
And last month at a critical hearing for her husband, Edith said the supposed lawyer failed the show.
>> Why? Why me? I started to feel really bad and I didn't know what to do.
>> Edith had sold her car and spent her savings.
Her husband's the bread winner and with him locked up, she was unable to hire a legitimate lawyer.
This is not an isolated scam.
>> In my experience, this is a billion dollar industry.
dollar industry. Jorge Rivera is an immigration lawyer in Miami.
He says scammers have repeatedly pretended to be him and co-opted the name of his law firm.
>> They have set up a studios where there is a fake immigration judge where there is a fake immigration officer.
They have a virtual uh hearing and they will do anything
using artificial intelligence, using these, you know, made madeup studios to make them believe they're having a real legitimate experience.
>> In New York, five defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges accusing them of holding sham immigration proceedings, including asylum interviews and court appearances.
Prosecutors said one victim ended up skipping a real immigration hearing and was deported.
And in Orlando, four people are facing charges accusing them of setting up a fake law firm and extorting millions from victims.
They have not yet entered please.
As for Edith, with no suspect in her case, she is left without answers.
>> I gave her all of my trust and she failed me and it feels really bad.
>> Edith's husband remains in ICE custody awaiting deportation to Guatemala.
The Department of Homeland Security said it is aware of these scams and told us officials will never just call out of the blue, demand money, or accept payments using gift cards or cryptocurrency.
Analysis
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