SCAM. REPORTER JULIAN POTTS HAS DETAILS. HE SHOULD. YOU KNOW, THE RECOVERY PART AND THAT THEY CAN HELP ME GET A JOB. PEOPLE ON THE STREETS DESCRIBING THEIR EXPERIENCE OF BEING APPROACHED BY PEOPLE CLAIMING TO GIVE THEM A BETTER LIFE. IT DIDN’T TURN OUT THAT WAY. IT JUST WENT FROM ONE COMMUNITY, SEEMED LIKE ONE LIFE TO ANOTHER. MANY OF THESE PEOPLE SPEAKING ARE NOT BEING IDENTIFIED OUT OF FEAR OF BEING TARGETED AGAIN. GALLUP MAYOR LUIS AGUIRRE SAYING LAST MONTH HE WAS SHOCKED TO LEARN SOMETHING LIKE THIS WAS HAPPENING. IT BLEW MY MIND IN THE SENSE I MEAN, IT RAISED THE HAIR ON THE BACK OF MY NECK BECAUSE I DIDN’T KNOW SOMETHING LIKE THAT WAS GOING ON. I’VE SPOKEN WITH PEOPLE IN AREAS LIKE THIS WHERE THEY SAY THEY’VE SEEN IT HAPPEN. PEOPLE APPROACHED THEM OFTEN. THEM A CHANCE AT A BETTER LIFE. AND THOSE WHO SAY YES OR SOMETIMES NEVER SEEN AGAIN, ACCORDING TO THE FBI AND LOCAL NONPROFITS, SCAMMERS ARE APPROACHING VICTIMS, ASKING THEM TO SIGN UP FOR A HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE. THE MORE PEOPLE THEY SIGN UP, THE MORE THEY CAN BUILD STATE PROGRAMS FOR MONEY. SOME SAY THESE CREWS ARE WILLING TO DO ANYTHING TO GET PEOPLE TO SIGN, INCLUDING KIDNAPING VICTIMS AND THEIR CHILDREN. ONE WOMAN SAYS THE OFFER TO ALLOW HER TO BRING HER KIDS TO A DRUG TREATMENT FACILITY DID NOT MAKE SENSE. GOING TO SCHOOL AND EVERYTHING. AND I’M LIKE, WELL, I’M NOT GOING TO GO TAKE MY KIDS AROUND. A BUNCH OF PEOPLE TRYING TO GET CLEAN FROM DRUGS. SOME WHO KNOW THE STREETS WELL, STILL NO PEOPLE MISSING. I CONSIDER THE PEOPLE OUT HERE IN THE STREETS IN MY FAMILY, ALTHOUGH PEOPLE ON THE STREETS ARE AWARE OF THIS, THEY’RE WONDERING HOW LONG IT WILL BE UNTIL SOMEONE ELSE IS FOOLED ON FALSE PROMISES. I’M NOT GOING TO PUT MYSELF IN A SITUATION WHERE I’M GOING TO BE DESTRUCTIVE. GALLUP LISA LOOK
Homeless noticing disappearance of Native Americans
Law enforcement, city leaders across New Mexico are noticing an issue of Native Americans missing — and those who live on the streets are seeing it too.
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Updated: 10:36 PM MDT Jun 1, 2023
Local law enforcement has been investigating a string of reports where Native Americans are being targeted and brought to Phoenix, Arizona. Many of these individuals may be homeless with struggles relating to drug or alcohol problems. “They said the recovery part, and that they could help me get a job,” one person on the street said. People on the streets described their experience of being approached by people "claiming" to give them a better life. “It didn't turn out that way. It just went from, to me, one lie to another,” this person said.Many of the people who spoke with KOAT did not want to be identified out of fear of being targeted again. Gallup Mayor Louie Bonaguidi said last month that he was shocked to learn something like this was happening.“It blew my mind in the sense it raised the hair on the back of my neck because I didn't know something like that was going on,” Bonaguidi said. There are seven locations across Albuquerque where nonprofits have monitored this type of activity taking place. People approach them, claiming to offer a chance at a better life. Those who say yes are sometimes never seen again.According to the FBI and local non-profits, scammers are approaching victims, asking them to sign up for a health insurance program for Indigenous people. The more people they sign up, the more they can bill state programs for money. Some say these crews are willing to do anything to get people to sign -- including kidnapping victims with their children. One woman told me, the offer to allow her to bring her kids to drug treatment, didn't make sense.“They'd be going to school and everything. I'm like, well, I'm not going to take my kids around a bunch of people trying to get clean from drugs,” one mother on the street said. Some who know the streets well still know people missing and “consider the people here on the streets my family.”Although people on the streets are aware of this, they're wondering how long it will be until someone else is fooled on false promises. They said, “I'm not going to put myself in a situation where I'm going to be stuck there.”Navajo Police Department, based in Phoenix, Arizona, has been running a new operation called "Operation Rainbow Bridge" which aims to locate displaced Native Americans within the Phoenix Metro Area.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Local law enforcement has been investigating a string of reports where Native Americans are being targeted and brought to Phoenix, Arizona. Many of these individuals may be homeless with struggles relating to drug or alcohol problems.
“They said the recovery part, and that they could help me get a job,” one person on the street said.
People on the streets described their experience of being approached by people "claiming" to give them a better life.
“It didn't turn out that way. It just went from, to me, one lie to another,” this person said.
Many of the people who spoke with KOAT did not want to be identified out of fear of being targeted again. Gallup Mayor Louie Bonaguidi said last month that he was shocked to learn something like this was happening.
“It blew my mind in the sense it raised the hair on the back of my neck because I didn't know something like that was going on,” Bonaguidi said.
There are seven locations across Albuquerque where nonprofits have monitored this type of activity taking place. People approach them, claiming to offer a chance at a better life. Those who say yes are sometimes never seen again.
According to the FBI and local non-profits, scammers are approaching victims, asking them to sign up for a health insurance program for Indigenous people. The more people they sign up, the more they can bill state programs for money. Some say these crews are willing to do anything to get people to sign -- including kidnapping victims with their children. One woman told me, the offer to allow her to bring her kids to drug treatment, didn't make sense.
“They'd be going to school and everything. I'm like, well, I'm not going to take my kids around a bunch of people trying to get clean from drugs,” one mother on the street said.
Some who know the streets well still know people missing and “consider the people here on the streets my family.”
Although people on the streets are aware of this, they're wondering how long it will be until someone else is fooled on false promises.
They said, “I'm not going to put myself in a situation where I'm going to be stuck there.”
Navajo Police Department, based in Phoenix, Arizona, has been running a new operation called "Operation Rainbow Bridge" which aims to locate displaced Native Americans within the Phoenix Metro Area.
