US immigration support

Seaswimwobble_9

I fell for this today! I am usually VERY clued up about scams, but this one got me easily as I was on my phone (I usually do important things on my laptop so I can see everything much more clearly) and didn't know you had to go to the US Gov site. If you are brand new to getting a US Esta and Google it then the scam sites - that look VERY legitimate - come up first and in language that looks very official and friendly / helpful. I didn't realise there was an 'official' process with the US Gov website - with hindsight that now seems obvious - but shows these things can happen to all of us, no-one is perfect!
£98 charged by usimmigration-support.net  However... I emailed them back to request a cancellation and a refund - which they did. I spoke to my bank who confirmed the payment had been redacted, they also advised I cancel my debit card immediately (as the site took the details) so I've done that too. They confirmed the site is in Cyprus.

My only concern now is that they have my name, address, phone, passport details - I had to upload a photo of the photo page so they have all details from that page; my old debit card (thank goodness that's now cancelled) my parents names and phone number, and details of the first hotel I'm staying in. A lot of data for a company I don't trust to have, which they could use or sell on - so I'm going to have to be extra vigilent now and so are my parents, not great.

I'm going to contact Google as they should do more to prevent these companies from dominating the search results, that doesn't help! 

DullGreyGuy

Seaswimwobble_9 said:

I fell for this today! I am usually VERY clued up about scams, but this one got me easily as I was on my phone (I usually do important things on my laptop so I can see everything much more clearly) and didn't know you had to go to the US Gov site. If you are brand new to getting a US Esta and Google it then the scam sites - that look VERY legitimate - come up first and in language that looks very official and friendly / helpful. I didn't realise there was an 'official' process with the US Gov website - with hindsight that now seems obvious - but shows these things can happen to all of us, no-one is perfect!
£98 charged by usimmigration-support.net  However... I emailed them back to request a cancellation and a refund - which they did. I spoke to my bank who confirmed the payment had been redacted, they also advised I cancel my debit card immediately (as the site took the details) so I've done that too. They confirmed the site is in Cyprus.

My only concern now is that they have my name, address, phone, passport details - I had to upload a photo of the photo page so they have all details from that page; my old debit card (thank goodness that's now cancelled) my parents names and phone number, and details of the first hotel I'm staying in. A lot of data for a company I don't trust to have, which they could use or sell on - so I'm going to have to be extra vigilent now and so are my parents, not great.

I'm going to contact Google as they should do more to prevent these companies from dominating the search results, that doesn't help! 

The problem is the government is never going to bid on Adwords to get their links into the "Sponsored" section and there are people who legitimately want help with applications and companies that do provide genuine support who do want to advertise to attract customers. 

I would disagree they are a "scam", they are poor value for money but so is the Post Office "Check and Send" for passports and yet people dont call it a scam. The site in particular doesn't look like a governmental website, which government offers "customer service"? The only thing that looks like false information on the site is the registered trademark sign next to the site's name.  

Appreciate that in certain circumstances anyone can fall for something so dont be overly hard on yourself, ultimately you've gotten your monies back and to be honest everyone should be vigilant all the time given the number of organisations that have suffered data breaches that we dont know about (or have forgotten about over time). Many people share much more on social media than what's given on an ESTA form. 

Pollycat

DullGreyGuy said:

Seaswimwobble_9 said:

I fell for this today! I am usually VERY clued up about scams, but this one got me easily as I was on my phone (I usually do important things on my laptop so I can see everything much more clearly) and didn't know you had to go to the US Gov site. If you are brand new to getting a US Esta and Google it then the scam sites - that look VERY legitimate - come up first and in language that looks very official and friendly / helpful. I didn't realise there was an 'official' process with the US Gov website - with hindsight that now seems obvious - but shows these things can happen to all of us, no-one is perfect!
£98 charged by usimmigration-support.net  However... I emailed them back to request a cancellation and a refund - which they did. I spoke to my bank who confirmed the payment had been redacted, they also advised I cancel my debit card immediately (as the site took the details) so I've done that too. They confirmed the site is in Cyprus.

My only concern now is that they have my name, address, phone, passport details - I had to upload a photo of the photo page so they have all details from that page; my old debit card (thank goodness that's now cancelled) my parents names and phone number, and details of the first hotel I'm staying in. A lot of data for a company I don't trust to have, which they could use or sell on - so I'm going to have to be extra vigilent now and so are my parents, not great.

I'm going to contact Google as they should do more to prevent these companies from dominating the search results, that doesn't help! 

The problem is the government is never going to bid on Adwords to get their links into the "Sponsored" section and there are people who legitimately want help with applications and companies that do provide genuine support who do want to advertise to attract customers. 

I would disagree they are a "scam", they are poor value for money but so is the Post Office "Check and Send" for passports and yet people dont call it a scam. The site in particular doesn't look like a governmental website, which government offers "customer service"? The only thing that looks like false information on the site is the registered trademark sign next to the site's name.  

Appreciate that in certain circumstances anyone can fall for something so dont be overly hard on yourself, ultimately you've gotten your monies back and to be honest everyone should be vigilant all the time given the number of organisations that have suffered data breaches that we dont know about (or have forgotten about over time). Many people share much more on social media than what's given on an ESTA form. 

+1 to the bit in bold.
Even Martin Lewis says websites like this aren't a scam.
You're just paying extra for something you don't need. 

An earlier post points out that there is a prominent disclaimer on this website that this company is not affiliated to the official website.

HillStreetBlues

Seaswimwobble_9 said:

I'm going to contact Google as they should do more to prevent these companies from dominating the search results, that doesn't help! 

I wouldn't bother wasting your time. They are at or near the top because the pay Google to be there

Pollycat

HillStreetBlues said:

Seaswimwobble_9 said:

I'm going to contact Google as they should do more to prevent these companies from dominating the search results, that doesn't help! 

I wouldn't bother wasting your time. They are at or near the top because the pay Google to be there

+1 to this.

When doing ESTAS, renewing passports, GHICs etc, you need to be sure you're on the right website. 

In fact, when you're giving personal/financial information or, you need to be sure you're on the right website. 

So many threads about people thinking they're on a genuine website only to find out they're not.