there are literally dozens and dozens of these fake travel authorization sites in search engines now, trying to target tourists who are visiting Europe and UK, even Canada... I have only seen it mentioned briefly on a Canada-related website.
why is this not bigger news? it seems like a very aggressive scam happening...
Why is this not news?
Because it’s been happening for years and years. Only real difference is Americans going to the UK are now getting scammed
I’m typing this from the Punta Cana airport. Thr Dominican Republic requires an e ticket. Lots of scam sites for that too. As long as people don’t look the scammers will be there
why is this not bigger news?
Because it is expected? Because it is a "First World Problem"? Because interest in travel is declining? Because many more outrageous things happen daily?
I mean anything like this, or tickets to hot sights, cheap airfare or trains, any number of things spawn third party, misleading, and outright scam sites. I think just about every thread regarding the ETA for the UK, on this forum, has included a warning to only go to the official site, usually with a link.
Worth stating, some of these sites can't fully be called a "scam", they offer their services for a fee, one can argue at what level the fee becomes questionable, but they elicit the needed information from you, clarify questions and give you guidance, and process the ETA for you. Is it needed? Not for most, nearly all people can do it themselves. However, I could see someone needing clarification for what constitutes a "Criminal" conviction, or other questions, or at least there was quite a discussion on here about that topic, much good, much just hogwash. The official site does not provide much guidance, or the opportunity to ask, in that regard. Same for guidance in the event of a rejection.
why is this not bigger news?
Because it's not new. And many are not fake or technically a scam- they are 3rd party sites that charge a fee for something you could just as easily do yourself. But they still deliver the product. Caveat emptor, as always.
...many are not fake or technically a scam- they are 3rd party sites that charge a fee for something you could just as easily do yourself. But they still deliver the product. Caveat emptor,...
This ^ . Caveat emptor and all that.
When they do the work, deliver a product, and charge a fat fee, they're 3rd party service providers not necessarily a scam. Avoid them, you can do the work yourself
My beef is with Google which sells #1 search return or high positioned returns as advertising. A search for UK ETA on Google returns three sponsored 3rd party service providers as the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd search results prior to the official uk.gov ETA site returned as result #4. Search engine optimization is also manipulated by these companies so they appear higher in search results. At least Duck-Duck-Go's search engine returns the uk.gov ETA site as the 1st result.
Even Rick Steves refers people looking for more information about ETIAS to an unofficial 3rd party website. I’ve mentioned it here several times already that this could lead people astray and that as a result they could end up paying more for their ETIAS, but the referral remains published on this very website to this day.
At least Duck-Duck-Go's search engine returns the uk.gov ETA site as the 1st result.
For many years, I've used either DuckDuckGo or Startpage as my search engine. It's pretty easy to set your web browser settings to use one of those as your default search engine. Everyone should do that.
I've noticed quite an uptick in spam postings here on the RS forum where the purpose of the spam is not to influence any of us, but to make their G 00G le ranking be higher.
I’m typing this from the Punta Cana airport. The Dominican Republic requires an e ticket.
An "e ticket" for what?
An "e ticket" for what?
Per the US Dept of State. for travel to the Dominican Republic:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/DominicanRepublic.html
Under "Entry, Exit and Visa Requirements"
"All passengers are required to fill out an E-Ticket or paper form when entering or exiting the Dominican Republic. If using E-Ticket, a new form is required for each entry and exit and the code generated upon form completion can be presented at the airport on a digital device."
Live-linked in that text:
https://eticket.migracion.gob.do/Home/
I honestly don't understand why people still fall for this garbage. Go to the OFFICIAL government site, and you won't be affected by this garbage.
Go to the OFFICIAL government site, and you won't be affected by this garbage.
The point is, that if you use G0 0gl e to find the "Official Government Site", and the first three listings are fake sites, then you can easily be fooled. We need to be very diligent in finding that "Official Government Site".
Those search engines are being manipulated by the scammers, through the use of spam messages and postings on many, many sites, including this one. I agree with the OP, there should be more news about this growing problem.
One thing that helps, is actually using "bookmarks" in your web browser, rather than using a search engine for everything. I have a couple thousand insanely organized bookmarks, gathered over decades, and I trust them more than a search engine nowadays.
“I honestly don't understand why people still fall for this garbage.”
As I wrote earlier Rick Steves, or actually Cameron Hewitt, actively refers people on this website to a 3rd party ETIAS website which he literally calls “a good source for info”. So if even seasoned travelers like them fall for this garbage, how can you expect unsuspecting inexperienced tourists to see the difference between a 3rd party website and an official government website?
Exactly...
Too many tech savvy people don't realize what the normal person experiences, they nearly all have been conditioned to click on the first result of Google or simply trust whichever website looks fancier. Scammers know this, they have great SEO and very nice looking websites that are scamming thousands of tourists every single day and also harvesting and selling their personal data.
Agree with Dutch_traveler & travelerguy, my thoughts as well. It does not help that Google obfuscate the sponsored links or proclaimed experts send people down the wrong path. We all know to go to official sites for information and these sort of services, but it's all old hat for us, an early lesson. There'll always be those for whom it is all new information.
Sorry, but even a newbie is capable of reading the "Sponsored" header at the very top of those 3rd party sites. If that isn't enough of a hint that it isn't the official government site, then perhaps they need to get someone to help them make their bookings for them.
