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Jurisdiction:
International Fraud
Overseas
Security Advisory Council
DSS
and Other Agencies: Working Together
Access
to the Regional Security Office (RSO) in Cairo
Your
Contact at DSS
Overseas
Security Advisory Council
The U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS)
is a Federal law enforcement agency mandated with enforcing the
laws of the United States pertaining to the illegal issuance, use,
or manufacture of passports and visas.
DSS Special Agents have the authority to make arrests for violations
of relevant passport and visa statutes as well as to conduct investigations
of crimes that occur overseas on U.S. Government property. DSS Special
Agents have conducted international document fraud investigations
for the past 73 years.
DSS is a unique organization within the Federal law enforcement
community because its agents are posted at U.S. embassies throughout
the world as Regional Security Officers. They coordinate with police
departments from all countries where the United States has diplomatic
relations.
This website will explain the types of offenses that DSS investigates
and provide some examples of how the team of DSS, State, and local
law enforcement agencies can work effectively together to fight
certain international crimes that, regardless of where they are
committed, violate the laws of the United States.
Jurisdiction: International Fraud
A passport is a document issued by a government that certifies
the identity and citizenship of the person to whom it is issued.
Passport fraud occurs when someone fraudulently applies for, uses,
or possesses a passport of any nation.
The most common instances of passport fraud occur when an individual
applies for a passport using false documentation or when they possess
or use passports that were not issued to them but have been altered
to appear as if they had been. Passport fraud is a Federal felony
punishable by up to 10 years in prison, 15 years if the offense
is related to narcotics trafficking and 20 years if related to acts
of international terrorism.
A visa is a stamp placed in a passport by the government of a
country a traveler wishes to visit. The visa allows the traveler
to apply to enter that country for a specific Purpose (e.g., work
or tourism). Visa fraud is the fraudulent obtaining, use, or manufacture
of a visa. It is a Federal offense punishable under the same guidelines
as passport fraud violations.
In the enforcement of passport or visa fraud, DSS Special Agents
investigate the use of false documents. The Federal Document Fraud
Law, under its felony provision, provides severe penalties for the
production, transfer, or possession of false identification documents
such as birth certificates, driver's licenses, or personal identification
cards, and the implements for making them. The law covers not only
documents that are or appear to be issued by the Federal Government,
but also documents issued by a State, political subdivisions of
a State, a foreign government, or quasi-governmental organizations.
Overseas Security Advisory Council
OSAC initiated a program to assist the U.S. private sector with
the establishment of country councils in foreign cities to enhance
the exchange of security related information abroad. These organizations
encourage managers of U.S. enterprises with security responsibilities
to organize themselves to cope with security problems by pooling
their resources.
Key representatives of these councils and U.S. Embassy security
officers, as well as other post officials, develop working relationships
to create an exchange of information through which pertinent, unclassified,
security information is shared in a timely fashion.
Overseas Security Advisory
Council Web site provides links to information from around the
world.
DSS and Other Agencies: Working Together
In 1993, DSS Special Agents investigated an Egyptian national
operating in New Jersey who used a highly sophisticated reproduction
process to manufacture hundreds of counterfeit U.S. visas. Working
with Immigration agents and Egyptian police, a joint undercover
operation was conducted that exposed the international visa fraud
ring. The investigation resulted in the arrest of the primary suspect
and the seizure of the counterfeit visa manufacturing equipment.
In a recent case in Texas, DSS agents joined with other Federal
and State enforcement officers to halt a multi-million dollar international
money laundering and phony investment operation. An individual,
who was believed to be arranging the murder of a criminal associate,
purchased a passport in an assumed identity from a DSS undercover
agent that resulted in his immediate arrest.
In 1993, DSS initiated a program to help combat the rising tide
of Russian Organized Crime (ROC) in the United States. In coordination
with local, State, and Federal law enforcement agencies, DSS launched
major investigations into the fraudulent procurement of U.S. visas
by ROC groups. Not only are Federal prosecutions pending, numerous
crime family members have been prevented from obtaining visas to
enter the United States.
DSS Special Agents assisted the Montgomery County, Maryland, Sheriff's
Office by coordinating the successful capture and return of two
fugitives from a remote African country. A husband and wife team,
indicted for the theft of $3 million, assumed false identities to
fraudulently obtain U.S. passports to flee before trial. DSS agents
obtained arrest warrants on passport fraud charges, then worked
with foreign police in six countries, through DSS officers in our
embassies, to locate, capture, and return the fugitives to face
justice in the United States.
In May 1994, DSS agents, working with Florida Department of Law
Enforcement, arrested an individual who had assumed a false identity,
fraudulently obtained a passport, and purchased numerous firearms.
Searches of his house and storage facilities on DSS warrants revealed
firearms, burglary and bank robbery tools, and child pornography.
The individual also may have been involved in two murders and the
sale of women to an international organized crime ring for prostitution.
In 1993, DSS took steps to enhance responsibilities for reporting
and investigating allegations of child exploitation. Working with
the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office, DSS Special
Agents conducted an investigation involving a State Department employee
suspected of sexually molesting youths overseas. The allegations
were confirmed and the individual was prosecuted in U.S. District
Court. The employees plead guilty and was sentenced to 6 years in
custody.
Passport and visa fraud offenses often are committed in association
with other criminal activities. International terrorists, narcotics
smugglers, white-collar criminals, and fugitives all seek to change
their identities as part of their criminal activities.
DSS Special Agents stand ready to work with State and local law
enforcement agencies. In any of the following circumstances, joint
investigations can be productive:
- A suspect on a local felony warrant may have fled the United
States in an assumed identity;
- An individual is arrested with documents, ,especially international
travel documents (passports), in multiple identities;
- Local investigation has developed significant information on
a suspect's criminal
activity that does not quite provide probable cause, and it is
believed that the suspect is using a false identity, especially
in international travel;
- A suspect in a local felony fraud investigation claims to be
a U.S. citizen, but there are substantive doubts about his true
citizenship.
Special Agents-in-Charge of DSS field offices and resident agent
offices in the cities listed at the end of this publication are
available to accept inquiries from other agencies on any matters
that may be of mutual interest.
In addition, DSS is responsible for conducting protective security
investigations concerning threats to foreign consulates and embassies
in the United States. DSS has officers throughout the United States
and at almost every U.S. embassy abroad.
Finally, DSS is responsible for the Counter-terrorism
Rewards Program. Up to $4 million can be paid for information
leading to the successful resolution or prosecution of an international
terrorist attack on U.S. citizens or property. For more information
about this program, call (202) 429-2207.
Access to the Regional Security Office
(RSO) in Cairo
You can reach a Cairo U.S. Embassy security officer via e-mail
or phone (20) (2 )797-2208.
Your Contact at DSS
Listed below are contact numbers for the Diplomatic Security Service:
Criminal Investigations, Washington, DC
(202)663-0373
Passport Fraud Branch, Washington, DC
(202)663-0379
Visa Fraud Branch, Washington, DC
(202)663-0388
DSS has offices in the following U.S. cities:
Arlington, VA
(703)302-7600
Atlanta, GA
(404)331-3521
Boston, MA
(617)565-8200
Chicago, IL
(312)353-6163
Dallas, TX
(214) 767-0702
Denver, CO
(303)969-5425
Honolulu, HI
(808)541-3434
Houston, TX
(713)653-3482
Los Angeles, CA
(213)894-3290
Miami, FL
(305)536-5781
New Orleans, LA
(504)589-2010
New York, NY
(212) 264-1292
Philadelphia, PA
(215)597-7435
Phoenix, AZ
(602)640-4842
Portsmouth, NH
(603)334-0519
San Diego, CA
(619)557-6194
San Francisco, CA
(415) 705-1176
San Juan, PR
(809)766-5704
Seattle, WA
(206)220-7721
Stamford, CT
(203)975-0820
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