Fadi Abbas, a 32-year-old Canadian national, tried to cheat the border—and thought makeup would get him through. On January 24, 2018, Abbas arrived at the Rainbow Bridge Port of Entry in Niagara Falls, New York, wearing cosmetics to make himself look older, according to federal prosecutors. His goal? To slip into the United States using someone else’s face—and someone else’s name.
Abbas presented a Canadian passport in the name of Gheis Ahmed Abbas—his own father. He thought the disguise and forged documents would fool U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. But biometrics don’t lie. When his fingerprints were run through the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, they came back with a match—Fadi Abbas, not his father. The ruse collapsed in seconds.
It wasn’t Abbas’s first run-in with U.S. border authorities. He had previously been denied entry into the United States under his real identity after officials discovered he had a criminal conviction in Canada. That prior rejection only fueled his attempt to sneak across using fraud and deception. This time, he brought more than just documents—he brought a disguise.
On the day of his arrest, Abbas pleaded guilty to misuse of a passport before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara in Buffalo, New York. The proceedings were swift. With no room for leniency, the court sentenced Abbas to time served and immediately handed him over to the Department of Homeland Security for removal proceedings. He’s now facing deportation back to Canada.
The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maura K. O’Donnell and investigated by Customs and Border Protection, under the direction of Director of Field Operations Rose Brophy. Authorities emphasized that even the most carefully crafted disguises won’t beat biometric screening at U.S. ports of entry. “They can change their face,” one law enforcement source said, “but they can’t change their fingerprints.”
U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr., who announced the conviction, called the attempt “a calculated effort to exploit identity and appearance to bypass federal law.” Abbas may have thought a little foundation and a borrowed passport would be enough. But in the world of border security, fraud is never face-value.”
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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