The U.S. Accidentally Set Up This Secret Scammer’s Paradise

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico—A new app introduced by the Biden administration to help process hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border has allegedly become a cash cow for human smugglers looking to exploit desperate migrants.

The administration announced the CBP One app in January, describing it as a “safe and orderly” path for certain migrants to apply for political asylum. The app, which has been designed to curb unauthorized crossings in the U.S., has been the main legal pathway to request U.S. asylum at the Mexican border since May 12—when the infamous COVID-era policy, Title 42, was ended.

But now, some fraudsters are using the app as an opportunity to sell fake court appointments, bogus smartphones and internet services for migrants stuck at the border, according to several asylum-seekers and a human smuggler who spoke with The Daily Beast.

Read more at The Daily Beast.