In the 30 years she’s lived in New York, Odalys González Silvera said she’d seen everything. But she wasn’t prepared for what happened to her recently.

“Although I sought advice and researched a number of things, unfortunately I fell victim to immigration fraud. I think this internet thing doesn’t help,” she said.

González Silvera, 61, a Venezuelan immigrant and a legal resident of the U.S., runs a small grocery store distribution business in the Bronx. She said her life changed dramatically after she sought legal help for a family member in immigration detention in Arizona.

After seeking a lawyer there who was unable to make progress on the case, González Silvera said she contacted a Facebook account that appeared to belong to a law firm called “Berman & Associates,” where a person who identified himself as attorney Enrique De Jesus Duarte promised her that he could secure the family member’s release “within a maximum of 15 days.”

In several WhatsApp video calls, González Silvera said, that person…