Undercover Operation Exposes Illegal Green Card and Social Security Card Fabrication Network

A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to prison for his involvement in a counterfeit green card and Social Security card scheme.

Wilberto Sandoval Mazariego, 41, from Chelsea, has received a one-month prison sentence followed by six months of home confinement, as announced by the Department of Justice in Boston. Mazariego's case centred on his collaboration with Tomas Xirum, owner of International Guatemala Musical and Fashion Accessories in New Bedford, who has been under investigation since August 2022.

Xirum was found to be selling fraudulent Permanent Resident Cards and Social Security cards. Undercover federal agents uncovered that Xirum had been sharing personal information of various individuals with Mazariego, who utilized these details to produce counterfeit identification documents. The investigation reveals a network in which Xirum supplied Mazariego with photos, names, dates of birth, and countries of birth.

Mazariego then created fake green cards and Social Security cards using this information. The scale of their operations is evident from a series of text messages exchanged between the two, containing approximately 568 attachments that detailed their activities. In an undercover operation in August 2023, Mazariego was apprehended after selling a phoney green card and Social Security card to an undercover agent.

Following his arrest in October, a search of his residence yielded an array of items crucial for producing counterfeit documents, including nine Legal Permanent Resident cards, six Social Security cards, five driver's licenses, and $17,095 in cash. Mazariego pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful transfer of a document or authentication feature, concluding a wider initiative to combat document fraud.

His co-conspirator, Xirum, also faced multiple charges and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in January after pleading guilty to three counts related to the unlawful transfer and production of identification documents.