Brazilian immigrants receive threatening letters seeking money
Residents told to pay or status will be revealed
By Alexia Campbell | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 21, 2008
Fort Lauderdale - "Not only do we have your address, but you are also being watched. We know your status in this country..." begins the anonymous letter sent last month to an unknown number of Brazilian immigrants living in Broward County.

In the letter, the sender threatens to reveal the reader's undocumented status to authorities unless that person mails $30 a month to an Orlando P.O. Box. The typed message, written in Portuguese, demands the first payment by Sept. 21.

"Do not play with us!" it says.

Marie Correa, 41, said she was outraged when she read the letter at her Fort Lauderdale home. Correa, a naturalized American citizen, decided not to call police. Instead, she contacted a weekly Brazilian newspaper based in Pompano Beach.



"I felt like I needed to do something," said Correa, who works as a waitress and airport ramp agent. "These kinds of people try to take money from Brazilians who don't speak English or who haven't been here very long."

Carlos Wesley, editor of the Portuguese-language weekly AcheiUSA, said two people in Plantation and Sunrise told him they received the letter, too. Wesley said he also heard of at least two more people who received the letters, and he suspects many more.

So far, available police records in Fort Lauderdale and Plantation indicate that no one has reported the shakedown attempt. Sunrise police on Thursday could not determine if there had been a complaint. That's not surprising, said Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. Crooks often con undocumented immigrants, thinking they won't report the crime because they're afraid of being deported.

"Many immigrants today live a life immersed in fear," said Little. "They don't know if they can trust their neighbor or their co-worker or even the person sitting next to them at church."

The typed letters, sent from Orlando in mid-August, demand two $15 cash payments wrapped in paper and mailed separately to a person or group called O.R.D.S.

The U.S. postal inspector who oversees mail fraud cases in Orlando was unaware of the scheme, said agency spokesman Ed Moffitt. Mail fraud convictions can lead to a maximum of $1 million in fines and up to 30 years in prison, he said.

Moffitt urges victims not to send money and instead mail the letters to his office.

"We're not asking anyone about their legal status," Moffitt said. "If I get around 60 letters, it might be enough for us to get a temporary restraining order" and stop service to that mailbox. Legal action could then follow.


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