Whether through paid “coaching centers” that claim to prepare asylum seekers for interviews with French authorities, or advice from self-proclaimed legal experts who promise to help obtain or renew residency permits, fraudulent services targeting migrants are thriving in France, unchecked and largely unpunished.
In the summer heat, a long queue of people from Algeria, Cameroon, and El Salvador waited outside the “Solidarity Bus” operated by the Paris Bar Association in the city’s working-class 18th arrondissement. Inside, four lawyers offered free consultations to those seeking legal guidance.
Among them was Ahmed, a Tunisian construction worker with rough hands and limited French, clutching pay slips as proof of years of labor in the informal sector. He hoped to finally regularize his status. His optimism, however, was tainted by past exploitation: he had paid €700 to a man posing as a legal expert who offered vague promises but delivered no real guidance.
“Each time I saw him, he asked for a new document and €90 more,” Ahmed told AFP, afraid to protest for fear of deportation.
Ahmed’s experience is far from unique. According to the association Antanac, which helps people navigate digital administrative systems, such cases are rising. Its founder, Isabelle Carrière, attributes this trend to the complexity of immigration procedures and to unscrupulous or poorly trained legal practitioners, as well as shady service agencies exploiting vulnerable migrants.
The shift from paper-based to digital applications, coupled with a spike in appeals and increasingly strict regularization standards, has created fertile ground for fraud. Over the past year, ads have appeared on metro trains, street billboards, and social media promising fast-track immigration help, often for steep fees.
Sandra Moran, of the CGT union in northern Paris, highlighted the case of one man who paid €2,000 to secure an administrative appointment that should have been free. “The simplified procedure for getting a rendezvous is free,” she said, “but some of these companies charge migrants hundreds of euros just to book it.”
On TikTok, an account with over 23,000 followers promotes “Coach Hervé K,” who offers a mysterious “card” that supposedly allows undocumented migrants to “move around freely without fear of deportation.”
Calling his agency leads to an immediate pitch: for €365, soon to rise to €495, the agency promises support in navigating procedures. Even when individuals are ineligible for work-based regularization, they are encouraged to pay for assistance in filing asylum claims.
In a WhatsApp group of 600 participants, offers abound: €800–€1,200 training sessions for undocumented caregivers or domestic workers, and €1,299 for access to the so-called Asile Academy. The latter includes help writing the personal narrative — a key document that asylum officials rely on to assess credibility.
The group is filled with payment screenshots, while questions about the high fees are met with curt responses like, “Choose what suits you… and stop flooding the group with questions.”
“These victims often feel ashamed,” said unionist Sandra Moran, adding that many have already endured fraud during their migration journeys. “They see it as their fate, as if they somehow deserved it.” Their precarious status leaves them feeling too weak to resist or report the abuse.
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