Wikileaks - adoption fraud - Togo

Source: wikileaks.org

Publication date: 2 November 2009

¶7. ADOPTION FRAUD: Post has not received any adoption cases since

Togo resumed national and international adoptions last December.

However, Post was asked to verify an adoption decree for Cotonou,

which was confirmed to be fraudulent. Post has also seen fake

adoption decrees submitted in support of IR2 petitions. It appears

that many American citizens (and Togolese) believe that a parental

delegation or a child custody order issued by the Togolese court is

equivalent to an adoption decree, thus revealing the need for Post

to do more outreach to those intending to adopt in Togo. Post is

still seeking to clarify whether Togo is recognized as party to the

Hague Convention on Inter-Country adoptions.

Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin

09LOME408 2009-11-02 16:04 2011-08-30 01:44 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Lome

VZCZCXYZ0006

RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPC #0408/01 3061604

ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY ADX0D0C814 MSI3474 611)

R 021604Z NOV 09

FM AMEMBASSY LOME

TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9265

INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0907

UNCLAS LOME 000408

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y--(PARA. NUMBERING)

PARIS FOR BOB KANEDA

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: PGOV PHUM CASC TO

SUBJECT: TOGO: CONSULAR FRAUD SUMMARY

¶1. SUMMARY: The following is the Consular Fraud Summary update for

the period of April to September 2009. END SUMMARY.

¶2. COUNTRY CONDITIONS: The international donor community has slowly

returned to assist Togo to emerge from years of economic stagnation.

However, the local economy has been hit hard by the international

economic crisis, massive flooding in 2008, and a reluctance of

foreign businesses to invest before the presidential 2010 election.

The Government of Togo (GOT) is currently focusing almost entirely

on preparation for the presidential elections scheduled for February

28, 2010. The international community is calling on Togo to have

free, transparent, credible, and peaceful elections, however

increasing dissension between GOT, the ruling party and the

opposition parties on elements of the electoral code and the

formation of the Independent National Electoral Commission have

seriously delayed election planning. Togo has a history of violence

during election periods and there are growing concerns that there

will be a repeat of the civil unrest that erupted during the 2005

Presidential election. The fear of violence could lead to an

increase in visa applicants in the coming months. Furthermore,

should violence occur, Post expects a rise in asylum claims at the

Department of Homeland Security similar to the increase during the

2005 Togolese Presidential elections. Natural Disaster Damages: The

GOT is still working on repairing the infrastructure of the capital

and key bridges, which were destroyed during flooding last year.

With assistance from China, the GOT was able to reconstruct and

inaugurate three major bridges on the primary routes linking the

North and Southern portions of the country, and the major commercial

routes to Burkina Faso. However, much more still remains to be

done.

¶3. NON IMMIGRANT VISA FRAUD: Over the last six months, NIV fraud

investigations represented only 6% of FPU's total investigation

workload. Most of these applicants intended to study, visit or

conduct some form of business in the U.S. The number of fiance

petitions doubled. Bank Document Fraud: None of the bank documents

that were investigated by FPU were found to be fake during the

reporting period. The large number of arrests associated with

fraudulent bank documents over the past few years has deterred new

applicants from providing fake paperwork. Passport Fraud: One

tourist visa applicant was arrested during the reporting period for

using a fake passport. The applicant stated during his visa

interview that he was going to visit his brother who is a diplomatic

courier. The subject was issued a single-entry visa valid for three

months. He later returned to the Embassy to apply for another visa,

with a complex story about getting his passport and visa confiscated

in Holland. The Fraud Unit of the American Embassy in Amsterdam

confirmed that the subject was arrested and deported after he

presented a fake passport to local authorities at the Amsterdam

airport. The applicant was arrested by the Togolese gendarmes and he

confessed that he had bought the fake passport from a fetish priest

after he was unable to get a passport in a timely manner from the

GOT. Students Visa Application: In the months approaching the end

of the fiscal year, Embassy Lome saw an increase in the number of

student visa applications from third country nationals. Allegedly

resident of Nigeria, Ghana and Benin, these applicants claimed they

were given appointment dates in their country of residence that

would not allow them sufficient time to travel before the beginning

of the school year. Applicants meeting this profile were routinely

denied. High School Diplomas with International Schools: There has

been a decrease in the number of student visa applicants from

schools that don't follow the Togolese/French education model, i.e.

do not prepare students to pass the baccalaureate (BAC). Togolese

high school diploma fraud has also decreased. Over the past fiscal

year, 99% of all BACs verified were genuine. The Fraud Prevention

Unit has maintained a good working relationship with the Office of

the Baccalaurat and is working on improving access to BAC rosters

in order to provide quick and timely verification of high school

degrees. It should be noted that many of the diplomas that were

confirmed to be fake were by Togolese diversity visa (DV) winners

who were interviewing at other posts.

¶4. IMMIGRANT VISA FRAUD (Non-DV): Most IV cases seen at Post are

CR/IR and V92 follow-to-join applications. During the past six

months, 14% of FPUs workload was comprised of IV investigations.

This rate represents half of the workload from last semester. An

overall rate of 25% of all IV investigations discovered either fake

marriage certificates or sham marriages. V92 follow-to-join

applications: Approximately 25 percent of V92 cases involved

fraudulent paperwork where the original marriage or birth

certificates provided by the applicant could not be located at the

registrar's office. These applicants can rarely provide proof of

their relationship and many gave the same story -there was fire or

flooding in the area/house and all their pictures and their original

marriage certificate were destroyed. What is notable is that in a

number of the V92 cases where the applicants have provided

inconsistent responses when asked questions about the petitioner

during the interview, or when they have provided clearly

photo-shopped pictures or fraudulent documents as proof of their

relationship, later DNA testing has found that the claimed

relationships are genuine. Revocations: Six revocations were sent

during this reporting period.

¶5. DIVERSITY VISA FRAUD: Diversity Visa investigations represented

79% of FPU's workload over the last six months. Over 80 percent of

DV applicants for the 2008 fiscal year were qualified and issued a

visa. This represents a notable change from the past where often

less than 50 percent of applicants were determined to be eligible

(2006). We attribute this to better outreach and explanation of the

eligibility requirements for the DV visas. High school diplomas

(BACs): Most DV applicants are now BAC holders. Officers refer all

such diplomas to the Fraud Prevention Unit for systematic

verification. As mentioned above, only 1% of all BACs verified this

year were confirmed fraudulent. There is therefore no major fraud

concern at the moment, most likely because all applicants know their

diplomas will be verified. Some DV applicants pretend to qualify on

the basis of education by bringing technical diplomas or degrees

earned abroad in a different education system. Post systematically

refers such applicants to the National Committee for Certification

and Equivalence of Diplomas. No diplomas have been confirmed as

fake during this period. Employment Verifications: Post continues

through O'Net Online classification to determine whether applicants'

expertise meet the right job zone. The Fraud Prevention Unit

performs onsite investigations to ascertain the level of expertise

that the applicants claim to have. Many applicants have their jobs

listed on the O'Net, but fail to have the level of expertise

required. Relationship Fraud: There was a substantial decrease in

the number of married DV applicants. Most applicants are now single

and qualified on the basis of education. However, near the end of

the DV season, some fraud trends began to emerge. The Nigerian Fraud

Ring: A number of Nigerian applicants appeared at the end of

September demanding an interview. These individuals often married

shortly after playing the diversity visa lottery, listed the same

intending residential address in the United States, reported being

born in Togo, and claimed Nigerian nationality. They all claimed to

be from the same tribe in Nigeria and their documents (marriage

certificate, birth certificates) where Nigerian, where fraud is so

rampant it is impossible to verify vital documents. Many of the

applicants spoke only broken English, yet all claimed to be high

school graduates. In one of these instances, it was discovered that

the applicant's husband had been previously arrested by Togolese

authorities through the U.S. Embassy for his role in producing

fraudulent documents for a number of other diversity visa applicants

(2008). Both he and the principal applicant were denied. In the

last two months of the fiscal year, Post interviewed over two dozen

couples who married on December 31, 2007, seven of which were

Nigerian. Verification of these marriage certificates revealed that

the registers were not at the central archives. An onsite visit to

the local registrar's office was also unsuccessful in locating the

marriage certificates. In some cases, these couples also presented

children as theirs; however, interviews revealed that the couples

knew little about the children.

¶6. ACS AND PASSPORT FRAUD: Post experienced little ACS fraud this

semester. During the reporting period, a total of seven

applications for Consular Report of Birth Abroad were received. Of

these, four cases were requested to provide DNA confirmation. Two

of the submitted tests have been returned confirming paternity,

while post awaits the result of the remaining two cases. A single

case of identity theft was reported to the embassy by the airport's

immigration office. The individual was an American citizen trying to

board an Air France flight with a young lady that he presented as

his wife. Both subjects were denied access to the flight. After

many interviews conducted by the immigration officer, the couple

confessed that the female traveler was not the owner of the

passport. Both passports were confiscated and sent to the Embassy

while the two individuals were sent to jail. Verification in PIERS

confirmed that both passports were authentic. After several days of

detention, both subjects were released. When the American citizen

came to the Embassy to request that his passport be returned, he

confessed to RSO that the second passport belonged to his wife who

is currently in the United States. His passport was returned to him

while his wife's passport was kept by Post, with a lookout hit

entered into ACS Plus/PLOT.