Your move is too important to leave to scammers.

• "Guaranteed visa" or "100% success rate" — no agent, consultant or insider can guarantee an outcome. Anyone who claims otherwise is lying to you.
• Payment through untraceable channels — gift cards, crypto, wire transfers to personal accounts, or mobile-money numbers that don't match a registered business.
• Artificial urgency — "slots close tonight", "only 2 seats left", pressure to pay before you can verify anything.
• Too-cheap offers — fees dramatically below official costs, or "job offers" that require an upfront payment from you.
• Unofficial documents — forged offer letters, fake embassy emails, look-alike domains. Verify on the official government site — never through a link a stranger sent you.
• Refusal of video calls or verifiable addresses — legitimate consultants put their name, registration and office on the line.

Before you pay anyone: search their name on the Scam Alert board, verify their registration with the relevant regulator, and ask the community — someone has usually seen the pitch before.

If you've been scammed

• Report it on the Scam Alert board — your report stops the next person.
• Contact your bank or payment provider immediately; some transfers can be recalled.
• Report to local authorities and, for fake job/visa schemes, the genuine embassy or institution being impersonated.
• Tell us via the contact form so we can remove the account and warn members.

There is no shame in being caught — these schemes are built by professionals. Reporting quickly is what protects the community.