this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
15 points (100.0% liked)

scams

682 readers
10 users here now

/c/Scams on Lemmy.one is an anti-scam discussion and advice community oriented towards helping educate people about common scams.

Rules

  1. No personal information of any kind, including last names, addresses, and phone numbers.

  2. No personal army requests.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
valois@lemmy.one
joeygibson@lemmy.one
AuntyQuated@lemmy.one
15
Almost got scammed today for Green Card, maybe ? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by BulgarianCarThief@lemmy.world to c/scams@lemmy.one
8 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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/

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] AnthoNightShift@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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.