Travellers from Denmark are being targeted by websites which overcharge them for visa waivers for travel to the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, according to Danish financial institutions.
Countries including the US, UK and Canada now all charge travellers from the EU for digital visas or visa waivers, which must be registered ahead of travel.
The system is being abused by websites which claim to offer a processing service for the visas but in reality overcharge for a registration which could be made directly for the standard price set by the countries themselves.
Danish bank Danske Bank and payment platform Nets have both warned travellers against using the websites, which trick victims into paying more for electronic travel documents than they need to.
The systems – such the ESTA in the United States and ETA in the UK – are being exploited by the websites, according to the Danish financial institutions.
The ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) is an online travel authorisation required for visa-free entry to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program, while the Canadian equivalent, the eTA (Electronic Travel Authorization), is required for visa-exempt foreign nationals flying to or transiting through Canada.
The UK is in the middle of a phased introduction of its own Electronic Travel Authorisation, commonly known as ETA.
READ ALSO: How to avoid being scammed when getting ETA visa waiver for the UK
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Each of these authorisations can be obtained directly from each of the relevant governments’ websites, but other websites are abusing the system by buying a high placing on Google search results and by making themselves closely resemble the official websites.
This can result in victims entering personal information about themselves, including passport numbers, on websites they have been misled to think are official government sites.
A direct link to the correct, official government websites for the travel authorisation schemes in the US, Canada and UK can be found at the bottom of this article.
Once victims have entered their details on the fake websites, they are eventually issued with legitimate authorisations for travel because their details are forwarded to the real authorities. However, they are charged an administration fee which is far higher than the real cost.
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For instance, users applying for the USA’s ESTA can be charged up to 100 dollars for the authorisation, which actually costs 21 dollars. The Canadian version costs 7 Canadian dollars and the UK’s ETA is a £16 visa waiver.
“We know of many companies that offer this as a private service, but since it isn’t illegal to charge extra for the service, there’s no clear way to shut them down,” Thomas Christensen, senior business and fraud analyst at Nets, told news wire Ritzau.
Nets and Danske Bank both warn against using the unauthorised websites.
“One thing is that you may end up overpaying, but you are also handing over your payment details to people whose main objective is to extract money from you,” Niels Halse, head of fraud prevention at Danske Bank said to Ritzau.
Both companies urge users to double-check that they’re actually on the official site before purchasing their travel authorisation, and that they are not paying more than the listed price for the relevant authorisation.
ESTA (U.S. Electronic System for Travel Authorization)
Official site hosted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/
Canada eTA (Electronic Travel Authorization)
The official Government of Canada page for eTA applications:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/eta.html
UK ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation)
The UK government’s official page for its new ETA system:
https://www.gov.uk/electronic-travel-authorisation
