How to Avoid and Identify Travel Visa Scams

Acquiring a visa is a crucial part of any plan to travel abroad. Without a visa, you cannot legally travel within the boundaries of a foreign country, unless there is a visa waiver agreement between the two countries. To acquire a visa, you need to submit an application on the official portal of the government of the country you wish to visit. For many people, this is a very stressful process to go through.

The possibility of rejection results in people searching for third-party E-visa services that can help guide and convince the authorities to grant you a visa for travel. 

When you are applying for an e-visa, there are 2 options, first is to apply with a consulate or embassy of that country and the second is to hire third-party services who handle the application process through information provided by you.

However, while many legitimate third-party e-visa services exist, there are also a lot of scammers who make websites meant to resemble authentic visa services, to scam clients out of a lot of money and get their passport information for malicious practices. This is why a client must be able to differentiate between a legitimate and fake website.

Distinguishing between a travel visa scam and a legit visa service

So, keep reading to learn how to distinguish between a travel visa scam and a legit visa service.

Promises and Guarantees Too Good to Be True

One of the most common ways to identify any type of scam is the inclusion of promises and guarantees which are far better than other services. For travel visa purposes, this can include very low prices for visa applications or guarantees of approval of visa applications. 

It is important to remember that even though third-party services will help and guide you through the process of visa application, they cannot guarantee the approval of your visa application. The power to make that decision rests with the government of the country you wish to visit. Also, governments don’t give sales or other types of discounts on their fees.

Authentic third-party e-visa services always charge government fees in addition to their service charges. So, remember that if a website guarantees the approval of your visa application and charges a fee amount lower than the government’s fees, it is most likely a travel scam.

There Is No Contact Information

In the business of e-visa application services, it is important to maintain easy-to-access contact information for clients so that they can get answers to any query that they have. This is important since clients will often have several questions regarding the service and the visa application process in general. So, legitimate e-visa service providers will have transparency when it comes to contact information so that clients can easily contact them whenever they want.

However, the same will not be true about a fake travel visa website. Here you may find that there are no options available for contacting the service providers. So, if you notice that a travel visa website has no way to contact them, it is a sign that they might be scammers.

No Reviews and Credentials

If you wish to know the quality of someone’s services or products, the easiest way to check this is to look up the reviews found on the website or other forums where people commonly discuss their experiences with a particular service provider. 

Any legitimate travel website will have multiple reviews posted by their previous clients sharing their experiences regarding their services. These reviews also should not be hard to find in case you are looking for them on online forums. 

However, if you notice that a travel visa website does not have any reviews posted on their website along with a lack of discussion regarding their services, there is a high chance that the website is a scam. Similar to the reviews, legitimate travel visa websites also provide you with all their credentials. 

This includes their memberships with other organizations such as consumer protection agencies, membership associations, and federal trade commissions. These credentials can most of the time be found on the homepage of the website or in the About Us section. 

A scam website cannot acquire such credentials which makes it easy to distinguish them from legitimate travel visa websites. 

Unprofessional Design of the Website

Legitimate travel visa websites invest a lot of money in the design of their websites to ensure that visitors to their websites don’t leave immediately. Maintaining an active internet presence is crucial for survival in the modern-day competitive market. So, you will never find the websites of a legitimate travel visa service as lacking in any aspect.

A scam travel visa website, on the other hand, will have unprofessional and cheap designs for their websites. This is probably due to them trying to do their scams as cheaply as possible. Luckily, this also makes it the easiest way to distinguish a scam website from a legitimate website.

Use of Unsafe Modes for Personal Information and Payments

The safety of the credentials of their clients is a top priority for any legitimate travel visa website. A single mishap in handling client information can result in devastating damages to the brand of the website. So, you will notice that most of these legitimate websites only ask for your details like passport information at the time of filling out the application form. They also only ask for payments once they have completed the eligibility and other visa application requirements for your visa and will typically use well-known modes of payment and provide bills of payments made. 

They also don’t ask for unnecessary details like bank account details or credit card information.

A fake travel visa website on the other hand will prioritize asking your details over modes which usually cannot be traced easily like telegram and emails and constantly ask for your details. As a rule of thumb, remember to never give any personal information via email to anyone.

These scammers will also ask for money early on in the process and will try to get their payments via unknown channels or even in some cases direct cash payments. So, if you notice any such oddities during the visa application process from any website, it is most likely a scam travel visa website.

Common Types of Visa Scams

Another way of identifying whether a visa service is a scam or not outside of inspecting the website itself is to look at their activities. Scammers typically engage in the activities mentioned below:

• Phishing and Spams – Here you receive emails or phone calls advertising the visa services of scammers. 
• Lottery or Prize Notification – You may get notifications telling you that you won a prize or lottery for a trip to a particular spot in a country. 
• Job Offers Offering Visa – This involves scammers posing as employers and scamming people by telling them that they are looking to hire them and will clear the visa process for them.

Remember!

The service of E-visa has substantially simplified the process of acquiring a visa for traveling abroad substantially. Unfortunately, it has also opened the way for scammers to abuse the lack of knowledge of many travelers and trick them into giving away their personal details like bank account details, credit card details, and passport details.

Scams are very rampant in modern times and we hope that the above-mentioned information can protect you from such scammers. 

Remember to avoid engaging in the services of a website that asks for payment very early, never give your personal information via email, watch out for any offers that are too good to be true, and websites with little or no reviews and credentials.