Ethnic Media’s Role in Frauds Raises Concern

If there is one common denominator in the multitude of scams against immigrants, it is in the way the ethnic media are used to find victims.

In fact, the proliferation of foreign-language newspapers, radio and television stations in California is seen as a major factor in the increase in fraud against newcomers.

There are about 30 Vietnamese-language newspapers in Orange County; a dozen Thai publications in Los Angeles; no fewer than seven Spanish-language papers in Santa Ana alone.

Some of these publications, including business directories, are distributed free in ethnic markets and restaurants. Scam artists prefer them because they expect to reach immigrants while evading authorities, who generally can’t speak the language.

For the ethnic media, the problem raises legal, financial and cultural questions. Rarely, they say, do they see clear-cut cases of ads that are meant to deceive.

“It is very, very difficult to identify the fraud,” said Yen Do, publisher of Nguoi Vet, a Vietnamese-language paper in Orange County’s Little Saigon. Do, who has been putting out his 15,000-circulation daily for 18 years, recalled pulling three ads--all involving immigration services--because he viewed them as scams. Over the years, Do said, he was suspicious of other ads. “But we were not sure, so we continued them,” he said.

“We have to wait until we have clear evidence from readers” in the form of complaints, Do said. The only problem, he said, is that Asians rarely report fraud because they are embarrassed or afraid.

Others, however, say the ethnic media bear responsibility for exploitation problems, particularly scams related to immigration.

Claudia Smith, a staff attorney at California Rural Legal Assistance who is fluent in Spanish, blames the Spanish-language media for running ads of unscrupulous notaries public without checking to see if they are bonded, as is required.

“Our experience is that in most cases there is no screening,” said Herschel Elkins, head of the state attorney general’s consumer law section. “Some of the worst ads we find are in foreign-language publications.”

Elkins says some of the bigger ethnic media recently have begun to make more efforts, including calling his agency to ask their opinion on some ads. But for the most part, he said, the media’s position is still: “We’re not in the law enforcement business and don’t have ability to check all the ads.”

Authorities say they aren’t aware of any lawsuits against the ethnic media involving scams. Experts say that media businesses can be culpable if they knowingly accept or help create ads that are meant to deceive.

The ethnic media say they try to protect themselves and their customers from being exploited. But the lengths to which they will go vary widely, and often depend on their size and resources.

La Opinion, Southern California’s largest Spanish-language newspaper, will not accept ads from curanderos, or faith healers, who have been a source of controversy. Nor will the Los Angeles-based paper, circulation 104,000, run immigration consultant ads unless they are for lawyers who are certified by the immigration bar. Moving firms, or modenzas, must show appropriate licenses.

“We’ve had to lose some major advertising dollars because they didn’t have proper licenses and documentation,” said Susanna Whitmore, director of display advertising at La Opinion, which is partly owned by Times Mirror Co. She added that for two years, La Opinion has run public service articles aimed at helping reduce the fraud in the Latino community.

In the same vein, the operator of KTNQ-AM and KLVE-FM, two major Spanish-language stations in the Southland, just started an hourlong consumer hotline program. “It’s as much to make us aware” of the fraud against immigrants, said David Gleason, KTNQ’s program director.

He said his station reviews ads to ensure that they conform to federal guidelines. Neither station, for example, airs cigarette or hard liquor commercials. But imposing other blanket restrictions or requirements raises 1st Amendment issues and can be construed as unfair “evaluative or judgmental” practices, he said.

Gleason says he thinks most defrauders cannot afford the cost of a commercial on a radio station like his ($100 to $1,000 for a minute). But last winter, a Westlake Village-based business called Great Credit ran ads on KTNQ and KLVE touting its purported credit-repair services. Authorities allege in a state lawsuit that it was a fraud, and the firm has closed. The suit is pending.

Other media businesses say they often are as much victims as the immigrants, sometimes left with unpaid advertising bills and the complaints of angry readers, listeners or viewers who claim they were defrauded.

David Liu, business manager at the Chinese Daily News in Monterey Park, says his paper’s representative will visit the business offices of advertisers, including doctors, acupuncturists, lawyers and travel services, to try to see that they are not fly-by-night operations.

But, he said: “I am not responsible for any kind of ad. We can’t. You must take care by yourself. That’s the reader’s responsibility.”