Email Requiring "Registration" of Embassy Appointment: Scam?

[The White Fiance 22]

My wife's embassy appointment is almost here, and we just received what looks like a scam email. It's not from a government website. I wonder if anyone here knows about this.

 

The email was sent from the domain usvisa-info.com, which does not list an owner on WHOIS. It purports to be from "GDIT Visa Information Services." It says something about having to "register" her appointment, and there is some stuff on the website which looks like it is setting her up to pay them money. The idea seems to be that the fee we already paid "expires," so we have to send these characters more.

 

Has anyone here heard of this? I'm forwarding the email to the embassy.

[SalishSea 17,786]

38 minutes ago, The White Fiance said:

My wife's embassy appointment is almost here, and we just received what looks like a scam email. It's not from a government website. I wonder if anyone here knows about this.

 

The email was sent from the domain usvisa-info.com, which does not list an owner on WHOIS. It purports to be from "GDIT Visa Information Services." It says something about having to "register" her appointment, and there is some stuff on the website which looks like it is setting her up to pay them money. The idea seems to be that the fee we already paid "expires," so we have to send these characters more.

 

Has anyone here heard of this? I'm forwarding the email to the embassy.

Nope, 100% scam.   

[The White Fiance 22]

Thanks for the confirmation. It looked crazy to me. I wonder how they got her email address and case number.

[JeanneAdil 6,482]

Notice of interview for a spouse visa goes to the USC and is scheduled by NVC and embassy

not the beneficary

[appleblossom 2,416]

Sorry to disagree with SalishSea, but I think it's genuine. All emails about my both my non-immigrant and immigrant visas consular process came from 'donotreply@usvisa-info.com' (everything to do with interview, sending in docs, registering for courier, paying the fee etc - all came from that email address).  

 

You do also have to register the appointment for most consulates once it's been scheduled (I certainly had to for mine - London - https://uk.usembassy.gov/visas/family-immigration/how-to-apply-2/). 

 

And the fee may refer to the green card fee perhaps? Or it could be the fee for passport return/courier fee (ours was £21 per person, paid once the interview was scheduled and before it took place). Without seeing the email or knowing what you're applying for, it's hard to know.

Edited September 25, 2023 by appleblossom

[The White Fiance 22]

The embassy told me to ignore the email: "Thank you for your email. Please ignore the email that asks you to register." They didn't say whether the company was a scam.

 

My emails come from "state.gov."

 

I emailed the company, asking if they were running a scam. They sent me an autoreply that was not responsive.

[appleblossom 2,416]

57 minutes ago, The White Fiance said:

The embassy told me to ignore the email: "Thank you for your email. Please ignore the email that asks you to register." They didn't say whether the company was a scam.

 

My emails come from "state.gov."

 

I emailed the company, asking if they were running a scam. They sent me an autoreply that was not responsive.

 

As I said, all of mine came from that domain for the consular part of the process. I also had emails from 'state.gov', but only for the NVC part - once my case was transferred to the consulate they all came from the 'usvisa-info.com' email.

 

I've just checked and they all ended with 'Best regards, The GDIT Visa Appointment and Information Service Team'. This is the domain, it's legit. https://ais.usvisa-info.com

 

The emails included receipts for paying the courier fee, confirmation of my interview (with full details of what to bring etc), confirmation of premium delivery for passport return, etc. About 9 emails in all from them during the consular process.

 

HTH.

 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by appleblossom

[The White Fiance 22]

I have been digging more, and it looks like GDIT is part of General Dynamics, a big defense contractor. Their main site (obviously real) says they have a contract to assist embassies. They make submarines and tanks. They really need to put up a real website for visa applicants and make some effort to communicate and establish their credibility. The site they have looks like a high school kid put it up. Anyone who is used to spam and phishing attempts would be hesitant to trust that site. It looks exactly like a scam site. I was afraid they would take our information and steal my identity.

 

Anyway, we're doing whatever the embassy tells us to do, so I don't think we'll be working with GDIT.