US Green Card Lottery Scams
America is the most desired destination for would be immigrants. Millions all over the world try to get there. If some of them do make it to America, for countless others America remains a distant dream. Most people can’t meet the strict requirements set by the American government for issuing the American visa. For such people the only hope of attaining their goal is the American Green Card Lottery.
And there is a good reason for it. Compared to other kinds of American visa programs, the American green card lottery is a cakewalk. You don’t have to be highly qualified or highly trained. Just enter the lottery and if you win it you are home and dry.
Green Card Lottery - also loved by scammers
Because the US green card lottery offers the easiest option to America, it is no wonder it is so popular with would be immigrants as well as scammers. If many see it as the only way they could land on the American shores, for scammers the US green card lottery is a heaven-sent opportunity to make easy money. People desperate to go to America in any which way they can are ready to believe any outrageous assertions that they come across, falling easy prey to the lure of craftily worded claims of some scammers who make out that:
- they are affiliated with the U.S. government;
- they have special expertise or a special entry form that is required to enter the lottery;
- their company has never had a lottery entry rejected;
- their company can increase an entrant’s chances of “winning” the lottery;
- people from ineligible countries still are “qualified” to enter the lottery.
FTC Consumer Alert warns against such claims which are baseless and misleading.
To take them one by one:
- No non-government site is affiliated to the U.S. government.
- There is only one standard form for the green card lottery application which requires to be filled up accurately according to the official instructions.
- This only means that the company fills up the form correctly and nothing more.
- No one can increase your chances of winning the green card lottery.
- This also is misleading because a person born in an ineligible country can enter the lottery only under certain circumstances which are stated clearly on the government site.
Keep all this in mind when looking for help with the green card lottery. Needless to say that you should avoid any site or ad that makes outrageous claims. But a number of green card lottery sites do provide help without misrepresentation of any kind. Search for them and look at them thoroughly before making any decision of signing up with them. Caution is the operative word with green card lottery as with any online or offline activity that involves money.
