A paralegal in Sheepshead Bay is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from immigrants she falsely promised to provide legal services to at a lower rate -- when she did no legal work for them or file petitions on their behalf, and at times falsely said she was an attorney, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office said.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and Special Agent-in-Charge of Homeland Security Investigations, New York Ivan Arvelo, announced Monday the indictment of Zoya Shamilova of Sheepshead Bay on a 17-counts in which she was charged with grand larceny, attempted grand larceny, immigrant assistance services fraud, attempted immigrant assistance services fraud, coercion, practicing law without a license and first-degree scheme to defraud.

Shamilova was released without bail. She is set to return to court on Jan. 17, 2024. Attorney information was not immediately known.

According to the district attorney, citing the indictment, from about May 2022 to August 2023, Shamilova falsely claimed that she could help the victims -- who were from Poland, Ukraine, Serbia, India and Kazakhstan -- with various immigration services including greencards and obtaining Temporary Protected Status for a fee fo about $4,500 to $16,250. Allegedly, the victims met Shamilova when they sought consultations with the law firm where she was employed as a paralegal, and stole more than $38,000 from individuals she promised to help.

According to the indictment, after accepting the payments from the victims, Shamilova did not file any petitions with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Rather, she allegedly made excuses or simply ignored calls and text messages from clients who were looking for updates on their cases.

Additionally, Shamilova allegedly threatened to report two undocumented individuals to immigration authorities after they questioned her.

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The apparent fraud was discovered when an individual texted the founder and managing partner of the law firm to follow up on her case, saying she had met with Shamilova to retain the firm.

Allegedly, after the founder looked into the matter and found documents related to the fraud, she fired Shamilova and reported her to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office and other agencies.

“We allege that this defendant tried to enrich herself by targeting individuals from our vulnerable immigrant communities as they attempted to comply with federal requirements," Gonzalez said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Arvelo shared similar sentiments calling Shamilova "a wolf in sheep's clothing."

“As alleged, Zoya Shamilova lured vulnerable individuals with promises of cheaper legal services as they navigated the immigration process," Arvelo said. "A wolf in sheep’s clothing, she is accused not only of stealing from her victims under the guise of legitimacy, but then threatening their livelihoods when they began to question her scheme. While our investigation found Shamilova charged each victim thousands of dollars, she is the person who will ultimately pay the greatest price.”

Authorities urge anyone who believes they have been victimized by Shamilova to contact the District Attorney’s Action Center at 718-250-2340 or send an e-mail to ShamilovComplaints@brooklynda.org.