This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ROME 000438 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR CA/FPP 
INL/HSTC FOR GORELICK 
CA/VO FOR KAGARISE AND LOPES DA ROSA 
DEPT ALSO PASS TO KCC 
POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KFRD KCRM CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC IT EUN
SUBJECT: FRAUD SUMMARY - ROME 
 
REF: STATE 205073 
 
¶1. COUNTRY CONDITIONS:   Italy has relatively few 
instances of fraud in connection with consular 
services. Italians, who enjoy a developed economy 
and access to the visa waiver program, find little 
reason to commit fraud to obtain visas or passports. 
The Italian government has a relatively secure 
system for ensuring document integrity for official 
civil documents such as birth certificates, 
passports, and national ID's, and keeps good records 
of the documents issued.  Fraudulent use of genuine, 
photo-substituted and/ or otherwise altered 
passports appears more often in the cases of third 
country nationals, especially Albanians, who seek to 
board flights to western European countries or to 
the U.S.  A growing number of illegal aliens are 
attempting to transit or stage in Italy and Europe 
in general, en route to their final destination in 
the United States. Those apprehended usually possess 
counterfeit "old style" (paper and ink) national 
identity cards made to match their passport data and 
to boost their credibility.  While the interception 
of counterfeit Italian passports presented by 
nationals of Albania is not a new trend, the 
continued occurrence of these interceptions at ports 
of entry Italy-wide bears mentioning.  Mala fide 
Albanians can utilize similarities in physical 
appearance and Italian language proficiency, due to 
the geographic proximity of the countries and often 
long-time residence in Italy, to credibly 
impersonate Italians. 
 
¶2. NIV FRAUD:      Since most Italians can travel to 
the U.S.A. on the Visa Waiver Program, fraud issues 
are rare and generally come from third-country 
applicants. Most NIV fraud is easily detected at the 
time of the interview and usually involves 
unsophisticated attempts to convince officers the 
applicant has spent more time in Italy or has more 
assets than is really the case. Post also conducts 
field investigations for all those cases that 
warrant additional scrutiny. 
 
NIV fraud at airports often involves Albanian, 
Eastern European and Chinese impostors with 
chemically washed pre-Lincoln NIVs. These aliens 
have also been found in possession of counterfeit 
credit cards and airline tickets as supporting 
evidence. 
 
The adjusted NIV refusal rate of 14.7% for FY05 is 
heavily skewed by TCN refusals; the refusal rate for 
Italian nationals is only 3%, while the refusal rate 
for all other nationalities is 11.6%.  TCN NIV 
applications account for 35% of total NIV requests 
in FY05. Visa Sections in Milan, Florence, Rome and 
Naples process nonimmigrant visas for more than 150 
nationalities.  Requests for B1/B2s account for the 
largest percentage of our workload. 
 
F, M, J Visas - Although post sees a number of 
candidates who do not meet the qualifications for 
study or exchange visas, the Student and Exchange 
Visitor System (SEVIS) has made it very difficult 
for mala fide to successfully present fraudulent 
documentation.  In FY 2005 Rome refused 75 F-1, 9 M- 
1, and 33 J-1 visa applicants. 
 
R-1 Visas - In FY05, Rome refused 33 suspect 
religious worker cases, most in consultation with 
CA/VO. These applicants did not meet the spirit or 
intent of the specific R-1 visa category. Post 
conducts more in-depth investigations on religious 
institutions whose legitimacy may be open to 
questions. 
 
¶3. IV/DV FRAUD: Naples is the only immigrant visa 
issuing post for Italy and Malta. It is one of a 
handful of posts designated to process Iranian IV 
cases. A large percentage of Naples' IV cases are 
for the U.S. military community based in Italy. IV 
fraud on the part of Italian and other visa waiver 
country applicants has not been a problem 
historically. While no one in the section speaks or 
reads Farsi fluently, the visa section staff has 
developed a familiarity with Iranian documents and 
is reasonably confident that there is little fraud 
among Iranian IV applicants. There is fraud, 
however, among third-country national DV applicants, 
principally from the Balkans and Africa. Submission 
of unfamiliar and frequently suspect supporting 
documentation routinely requires follow-up with U.S. 
missions in the applicants' home countries. Fraud 
related to educational certificates is relatively 
common. Naples has seen an increasing number of 
suspect fiance visa cases involving applicants from 
Ethiopia. 
 
¶4. ACS AND PASSPORT FRAUD: Italy attracts thousands 
of tourists annually who are targets of criminals 
eager to get their hands on cash and credit cards. 
In the process, they also steal U.S. passports and 
other travel documents.  Many of the passports are 
quickly discarded and are subsequently returned to 
post through law enforcement agencies.  In some 
cases stolen documents do end up in the hands of 
professional smugglers, who alter them in an attempt 
to transport mala fide passengers to the United 
States and other desirable ports of entry.  Law 
enforcement officials contend there has been a small 
increase in photo-substituted passports in the 
possession of US-bound travelers.  The company 
employed by U.S.-flag carriers to inspect out-bound 
travelers, International Consultants on Targeted 
Security (ICTS), detected two photo-subbed passports 
in Rome and three in Milan in FY-05.  ICTS also 
reported 4 imposters and 6 counterfeit passports 
during the period. 
 
¶5. ADOPTION FRAUD: The U.S. Citizenship and 
Immigration Services (USCIS) in Rome, Italy is the 
sole office responsible for adjudicating adoption 
cases.  USCIS in Rome does not currently maintain 
centralized statistics relating to adoption fraud, 
but has not found incidents of fraud in the recent 
past. 
 
¶6. ASYLUM AND OTHER DHS BENEFIT FRAUD: The USCIS 
office in Rome is also solely responsible for 
adjudicating refuge asylum cases and other 
immigration cases in the region.  They are not aware 
of any asylum cases involving fraud. 
 
¶7. COOPERATION WITH HOST GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES: 
Post has developed effective relationships with host 
government law enforcement authorities.  Italian 
police respond quickly and efficiently to our 
inquiries. 
 
¶8. AREAS OF PARTICULAR CONCERN: Due to the large 
number of religious and quasi-religious institutions 
in Rome, it is relatively easy for mala fide 
travelers to assemble the ingredients for a 
fraudulent R-1 application.  We would value a SEVIS- 
like system for vetting and tracking legitimate 
religious institutions whose applicants will be 
requesting religious worker visas. 
 
¶9. STAFFING AND TRAINING: The Consular Section in 
Rome has only one full time LES employee devoted to 
fraud issues, Michelangelo Arezzo.  He attended a 
two-week fraud prevention course with the government 
of Italy in 2003 and the EUR LES Fraud Prevention 
Course at FSI in December 2004.  The FPM, Hugo 
Rodriguez, is also the Visa Chief.  He arrived at 
post in August 2005 and is assigned for a three-year 
tour. 
 
SPOGLI