How to Recognize Online Visa Scams
With the world increasingly becoming a ‘global village’, there are scores of people who wish to migrate abroad. Be it for travel, education, employment, business or other reasons, millions of people seek visas every year so that they can visit other countries.
Wherever there is a demand, there is bound to be a scam. A growing type of scam is the online sale of fake visas, which can come up in many forms.
Fake visa agents
Scammers create professional-looking websites and push them to the first position in Google, sometimes by paying for advertising. These sites are displayed when you look up something such as “USA visa for Australians” and will serve as an intermediary for something you could have done directly on the official website.
If you fall for it, they will charge you significant amounts just to compensate for a few clicks of their work - something that you could have done yourself. These organizations will not even make the process faster for you, as it requires the same amount of documents. In fact, they might even slow it down (by adding an extra layer).
E-visa websites that will rip you off
If you Google “India visa for Australians”, you might find in the first position a website which seems legit and official, but which in fact is not the official authority for ordering Indian e-visa online. Once again, by applying to this website for your e-visa, you will pay extra money that you would have saved if you placed your request on the official Indian website.
Case study: Scammers used the US Embassy Facebook page to scam
Several members of the public fell victim to scammers using a fake US Embassy Facebook page to extract money from them, in exchange for visa services. The victims were asked to provide all the personal information required to the creation of a visa (including a photograph), along with a request of $3,000 to be paid through Western Union. After receiving the money, no service was provided.
How to avoid falling for an online Visa Scam
- They guarantee a visa: Qualified immigration authorities know that each case is unique and will therefore never guarantee that the applicant will receive a visa upon applying
- Communicating via unofficial channels: Make sure that the email address of the person you are in contact with includes the official suffix corresponding to the institution. For example, the email address has to end in ‘.gov’ for the US government.
- Unsafe payments: You will never be asked to pay the visa application fee by cheque, money order or Western Union. Transactions made using these methods cannot be traced or reversed.
Official visa websites by country
- Belgium
- Canada
- China
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Spain
- United Kingdom
- United States
- For other countries, please visit this website.
If you want to report a visa fraud, you can do it on Scamadviser.com and on the country’s relevant authority.
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