We were recently alerted to a “press release” making the rounds on social media and popular social messaging applications that the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden had signed an executive order making it possible for those in certain professions to be eligible for an American E-VISA and residency permit.
A quick trip to the US Mission in Nigeria confirmed that this was a scam and it has been in circulation since March
Looking around on social media we were able to find a Facebook Page linked to this scam, and we found another “press release” targeting other African countries and not just Nigeria.
Immigration Service US – Home | Facebook
archived 12 Apr 2021 21:07:20 UTC
We decided to send a message to the email address listed, info@americaimmigration.us to find out how the scammers were running their ops. Immediately, we got a response.
Hi Applicant,
We are sorry to inform you that we have been overwhelmed by the huge numbers of applications received from your country of which we are unable to review every email.
Due to this, You are required to pay a review fee of $50 to proceed.
Send a Message to +1 (954) 831-9177 via WhatsApp only to chat with our agents on how to pay and proceed.
Payments must be completed within 24 hours from time you sent your application.
We will take a review within an hour, only if payment is valid. Your application will be Approved.
Goodluck.
Looking at the email header we were able to confirm that this was an auto-response, that is the scammers had set their mailbox such that if you were to send an email you would immediately receive the response above.
The contents of the email show classic social engineering tactics such as urgency (Payments must be completed within 24 hours) and commitment. (asking for a review fee, once that target can pay this, they won’t have much resistance to paying future requests.)
So we went ahead to chat the WhatsApp number and this is how the conversation went
Saying “Good day” we were immediately greeted with an auto-response message with instructions on how to proceed with payment. Notice that the message says “After payment, send us the email used for application.” This means that the scammer(s) do not bother with going through all emails sent, once the initial payment is made, and they believe the target is hooked, they then proceed to check for the target’s initial application and respond accordingly to milk more cash. Obviously, such a setup saves time and manpower.
The “Consular Processor Agent” was quick to respond with banking details
We also wanted to find out how they would accept payment if we were somewhere else, say Ghana.
How to avoid such scams
If you’re looking to emigrate or travel out of the country, only seek out information from trusted sources. Most Embassies and High Commissions maintain an online presence, seek out their websites. Also, most have social media handles, you can tell a genuine social media handle by the verified tick. Finally, ignore information emanating from other sources, and when it doubt, consult others.