Official attitudes put immigrants at mercy of bogus agencies

AFTER reading your report headlined “Romanians hit own countrymen in €400 scam” (Irish Examiner, January 29), I wondered if the barriers the Department of Social and Family Affairs presents to migrants looking for PPS numbers are not helping create an environment for their exploitation.

Your report explained that migrants were “charged fees for arranging applications for Personal Public Service (PPS) numbers by bogus agencies operated by their own countrymen”.

I am also aware of a scam where intermediaries were charging migrants who required ‘evidence of address’ in order to get PPS numbers.