Travel, ticket and visa scams

Travel, ticket and visa scams take fees for guaranteed overseas jobs, visas, or cheap tickets that never materialise.

How travel, ticket and visa scams work

You're offered a guaranteed overseas placement, visa, or cheap tickets and asked to pay agency/visa/booking fees upfront.

Money and documents are taken with no real job, visa, or ticket.

Legitimate visas aren't 'guaranteed' by a chat recruiter, and protected platforms exist for tickets.

Common opening lines

• “Guaranteed overseas job with visa - pay the placement and visa fee.”
• “Gulf job placement - pay agency and visa fees to lock your seat.”
• “Cheap flights/tickets - transfer now to secure them.”

Example patterns

Sanitised examples - placeholders only, never real links or data.

Red flags

• upfront fee
• too good
• payment request

What to do now

1. Stop paying and keep the deal/communication on official channels.
2. If money moved, contact your bank or payment provider immediately.
3. Save evidence and report to your national cybercrime authority.

What not to do

• Don't pay a fee to receive money, a refund, a prize, or to 'release' funds.
• Don't pay via gift cards, wire, or crypto to someone you haven't verified.
• Don't trust payment screenshots as proof of payment.

If you already responded

If you went further: if you clicked, don't enter anything and change any details you typed; if you entered card details, freeze the card with your bank; if you shared an OTP, change the password and enable app-based 2FA; if you paid, contact your bank or provider immediately; if you installed an app or gave remote access, disconnect, uninstall, and change passwords from a clean device.

How to verify safely

Verify employers, agents, and visas through official labour/immigration channels before paying or sharing a passport.

How to report

Report through official channels you find yourself - never a number or link from the message. Tell your bank or payment provider if money moved, and file with your national fraud or cybercrime body. Find the right links in the reporting directory. Open the reporting directory.

Watch for 'recovery' offers afterwards: anyone promising to get your money back for an upfront fee is running a second scam.

Sources checked

• Remote Work Europe - Remote job scams guide
• FTC Consumer Advice - Imposter scams

Last reviewed: 2026-06-05

This is general safety information, not legal, financial, or cybersecurity incident-response advice. We can't detect every scam or guarantee recovery - always verify through official channels.