So i was looking through a website that, i thought was owned by US government, searching for how to apply for green card. I found a form that required username and location for seeing if i was applicable for the green card lottery. I filled and submitted it, and after 1 day i received a call from someone presenting itself to be US immigration officer. We started talking and they asked me typical questions of : “What do you work”, “Do you have family”, “What is your education”, etc… I immediately noticed something is off, since that supposed American (female) had very thick accent on some words. Anyway, we finish with the questions, and she asked me to hold the line for 1 minute until they send the data to their superiors and evaluated if i’m applicable to enter the green card lottery or not. They came back and said i was approved, and that they will need 680$ for fees (which is more than a month’s salary for me, currently). At that point i thought to myself that 100 % that this is a scammer. Idk if the lottery requires any fees to enter tho, so now im not sure… Do you think that woman was a scammer too ?
Edit: the website is - https://en.gco-con.com/
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It’s a scam.
“There is no fee to enter the green card lottery. However, if you’re selected and choose to apply for a Diversity Visa, you’ll need to pay the mandatory green card application fees. Once selected, you’ll receive information and details of the required fees on the Diversity Visa website at dvprogram.state.gov.”
The fees are around 200-300$ never pay over the phone. Always verify it’s a .GOV site.
"You must pay the fee online using the USCIS Electronic Immigration System. Go to www.uscis.gov/uscis-elis and select “Log In.” • Select “USCIS Immigrant Fee” from the chart. Enter your A-Number and DOS Case ID as shown at the top of this handout. Pay $220 online.“
If you’re on a site that doesn’t end in .gov, it’s not a US government site. That’s the way you know if you’re on a scam site or not.
The red flags are many. Starting with the absolute lack of bureaucracy and wait time; you got an almost immediate callback (Flag 1), and then after answering multiple intrusive questions over the phone (Flag 2) you were told during the same call that you were elligible (Flag 3). Then the “fee” that you need to pay right away if you don’t wanna miss your chance (Flag 4). The accent, as you mentioned, is also a possible red flag.
Before you pay anything, I would strongly suggest you contact your local American Embassy (sorry but you’ll see what I mean about bureaucracy and wait time…) and ask them to provide you with proper information AND accurate phone number to contact the service you allegedly spoke to so you can verify with them if the call you had was legitimate or not.
100% a scam. The US Government does not let you use the restroom without 5 forms filled out on triplicate, signatures from 7 people across 8 different agencies, and a minimum of 6 months turnaround time.
Always, always make sure you’re on a .gov website, and expect the process to take a while.
I know little about your situation but as an outsider this sounds like a scam to me. Do you have a link to the website? All goverment websites in US use a .gov address instead of .com
If you fill the form and submit it, a popup will appear that a government agent will contact you shortly
Yes, here is the website: https://en.gco-con.com And as you said, now im confident it was a scam since it doesn’t end in .gov
I wouldn’t trust that assumption, goarmy.com
