Fresh Notice Given Over Migration Scams in Down Under

There seems to be no end to the unlawful activities of the visa and immigration fraudsters in Australia. In fact, with the passage of time, they seem to have become bolder and more imaginative.  

Against this backdrop, and in a rather important development, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) of Australia has reportedly come-out with a fresh warning involving scams from criminals, allegedly targeting visa candidates & holders.

Despite the fact that there is not any particular large scale scam that has been duly detected, the DIBP reportedly asserts that they are forever out there, and can take different forms comprising e-mails and telephone calls but also offers coming in via the postal route.

For those not tuned in, a scam is basically an effort to deliberately deceive people to pilfer money, property, or personal details, or to fraudulently get hold of something else of significance.

The DIBP is advising the aspirants-- submitting an application for visas, citizenship, and on the lookout for migration counsel--to be on their guard against those who could offer bogus or false information.

As per a said a DIBP spokesperson, the DIBP knows that criminals across the globe make use of scams, related to migration & visas, as a method to pilfer money from public. From time to time, such criminals will utilize the DIBP name to make their tale appear lawful.

It is the job of the candidates and visa holders to be pretty watchful and vigilant to stay away from scams. One would do well to keep self secure by knowing the present scams & trends.

The DIBP knows about a chain of scam phone calls presently occurring even while those making these phone calls are masquerading as officials from the DIBP or other government groups, he elucidated.

The caller will typically insist that a fine be paid straight away as a penalty for a so-called blunder committed by the projected sufferer. The DIBP never asks for the payment of fines or costs, via telephone, the spokesperson added.

An additional regular scam involves the visa holders getting a phone call from a person masquerading as an immigration officer. The caller--who is armed with visa holder’s passport & date of birth, claims that the date of birth registered is wrong and requires to be duly updated for a price, the spokesman indicated.

The caller states that the visa holder will be exiled, in case they fail to make the payment. The aspirants would do well to know that this is nothing but a scam. In case a person gets a call of this nature, he must put the phone down right away only to bring the matter to the notice of police in his state & territory, and to the DIBP’ he added.

There is also a scam that employs e-mail addresses coming to an end in ‘.pn’ asserting to be from the DIBP. The impostor gets in touch with a victim, via a phony e-mail address and asserts be from the DIBP or a different Australian Government bureau, he continued.