I’m writing on behalf of a friend who is a U.S. citizen. He met a woman who was in the process of filing for asylum, and they got married. Everything seemed to be going well, and he even helped her brother by letting him stay at his place while looking for jobs. As a cultural gesture, he also gave his wife $8,000 in cash and gold worth another $8,000. They were living in different states because he was trying to find a better place for them. However, after a confrontation between him and her brother over car damage, the brother left to be with his sister in another state. Soon after, the wife stopped answering calls, and he discovered that they were heading to Canada to file for asylum there. He notified the border and immigration authorities, receiving a reference number for his report. Later, he found out that they applied for asylum in Canada, but he’s unsure if it has been approved or is still pending.
A few weeks ago, he started receiving letters from banks regarding credit cards opened in a different state where his wife used to live, including accounts at Costco and Walmart. Additionally, the brother had taken cash from him while living with him. Feeling desperate, he drove to Canada and reported the situation to the police, asking them to return to the U.S. He also filed a police report in the U.S. regarding the theft of his phone, which he had bought for both his wife and her brother, who took it with them to Canada along with the cash and gold. He’s feeling lost and believes that no matter what he does, it’s futile.