CIS Uses Social Networking Sites, Too

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) has exposed through a recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that it uses social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace to observe beneficiaries and petitioners who are suspected of fraudulent activities.

 

The memorandum, which has been circulated in many news reports, details FDNS' beliefs that use of such sites will help them uncover information from people suspected of using fraud to gain immigration benefits, due to people's tendency to speak more honestly in online activity than they do to FDNS.  FDNS believes that this gives the agency an opportunity to better discover fraud; for instance, to see if petitioners and beneficiaries of a marriage-based petition are in a valid relationship or are attempting deception.  For more information, see the attached copy of the CIS memorandum here.