Indian embassy in UAE warns of visa scam

Dubai, Feb 7 (IANS): The Indian embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has warned foreigners against falling prey to online visa scamsters operating a website that claims to facilitate Indian visas.

An embassy release issued Thursday stated that some unscrupulous elements have created a website similar to the online visa application website of the government of India and are deceiving people into paying service fees.

“It has come to this mission’s notice that a fake website with the heading of 'Online Indian Visa Application Form' and with URL address 'https://india-visa.co/index.php' is available on internet,” the embassy said in the statement.

The rogue website instructions also asked users to pay service fee of 55 pounds or $90 or in equivalent euros or Indian rupees.

The statement said that the original authentic website for online visa application is http://www.indianvisaonline.gov.in.

The embassy has advised all foreign nationals not to make any online payments for any visa service.

India's Ambassador T.P. Seetharam told the Khaleej Times that the embassy has already notified the external affairs ministry of India about the matter.

“We will take all measures and pursue all options to prevent people from getting cheated,” Seetharam was quoted as saying, when asked if he would request the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of the UAE to block the site.

“This has happened in recent days. There have been some cases, not only here but in some other countries in the region as well. So, we felt giving maximum publicity to this is the best thing to do immediately so that we can prevent more people from falling prey to this,” he added.