How visa scams usually work
A visa scam often begins with an offer that solves a hard problem: a sponsored job, an assured visa, or a lottery selection. The diversity visa lottery, when it is open, is entered only through the State Department's official website, and results are checked there, not through an email asking for payment. Fake employers may send convincing contracts and ask for fees covering paperwork that a real employer would usually handle itself. Some agents do file something, but with false information that later surfaces at a consular interview. Others never file anything and simply collect payments in stages.
Recovering money and documents
Gather every record of payment, including bank transfers, card statements, app transactions, and receipts, along with the messages and contracts that came with them. If you paid recently by card, ask your card issuer about a dispute right away, because those processes have their own time limits. If you sent originals such as a passport or diplomas, request them back in writing and keep a copy of the request. Reports to the Federal Trade Commission and, in New York, the Attorney General's office create a record and can help if others were targeted by the same scheme. Whether a civil claim makes sense depends on who the scammer is and whether they can be found.
Repairing your immigration record
The bigger long-term risk is often what was filed in your name. A false job offer or an untrue statement on an application can follow you into future cases as a misrepresentation issue, even if you did not write it. Our first task is working out what, if anything, was actually submitted to the U.S. government and what it said. Then we talk about whether and how to correct the record, and how to answer truthfully if the issue comes up at a later interview. Victims of some crimes may have immigration options of their own, and we look at whether any apply to you.
