All Australia visa aspirants beware! As per a report, several unprincipled migration consultancies are targeting easy-to-fleece persons keen to shift to Australia. One such agency is alleged to have persuaded people to cough-up money for permit submissions which were never filed.

Allegedly, the website in question tempts the gullible aspirants to express their interest, via presenting an online web form along with their contact particulars. Post registration, the candidates are contacted via either e-mail or phone before being asked to cough-up a fee varying from $300 to $3,000 through credit card, in exchange for an Immigration Package to Down Under.

But many users of the said website’s services have claimed that, once the fee has been given, they either do not hear anything further, or gain an e-mail informing that they are disqualified to file a petition for a permit.

Meanwhile, the concerned authorities maintain that wherein persons have shelled-out money, via credit card to the said agency, or for that matter any other migration body, for a service they did not eventually obtain, they may get in touch with their credit card service provider, before filing a disputed payment complaint with them. The credit card service provider could be in a position to get back all or at least a fraction of the sum duly given.

Allegedly, the said immigration agency has neither any influence on permit decision making nor does it stands for the national administration of Australia. As per the concerned official, Immigration Australia has no record whatsoever of permit submissions filed by the given agency even as the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA) also has no records whatsoever of any listed immigration advisors linked with the said agency.

He added that despite the fact that the particulars of every registered migration advisors may be gained from the website of the MARA, people could be taken for a ride through numerous ways, via post, e-mail, telephone or on the internet. While certain scams are not difficult to discover, others could seem to be genuine.

It’s also alleged that it’s not very difficult for the cheats to generate websites which seem professional and create emails which seem to be from lawful sources. Such websites and e-mails could make efforts to obtain applicants to offer confidential details which may be employed afterwards to pinch identities and/or trap permit aspirants into giving them money.

Given this, the visa & immigration candidates would do well to confirm the web address. Despite the fact that one character could be dissimilar, it may denote that it’s not a similar website. The official websites of the Australian Administration conclude in gov.au.

Enlightening the aspirants further, and advising them to be on their guard against the swindlers, another concerned official (an Immigration Australia spokesman) reportedly said that permit submissions, which are processed via the department’s website, may be followed by the government’s systems. The aspirants should employ the authorized website for future petitions, to gain suitable backing from the administration.

He added that one should, by no means, enter private details save it’s a protected site, and one knows who he is engaging. Safe websites are duly locked with a padlock in the window for browser, or the protected URL at the starting of the address.

The spokesman further said that in case one has any suspicions about a particular website, he should do a web search to discover in case anyone has brought to light any issues with the said site. Further, while doing a search for a registered visa & immigration advisor, the aspirant would do well to employ the link given on the Register of Migration Agents.

He stressed that the aspirants ought to also watch for e-mails sent from the so-called free web mail addresses, like Gmail, Rediffmail, or/and Hotmail, unsought e-mails from unfamiliar persons who could be promoting a website, and ought not to click on web links in these emails, and unexpected e-mails seeking personal information or e-mails with general greetings as a substitute for one’s name.