The Bureau of Immigration has warned foreigners not to deal with individuals offering entry visas for a fee.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said they have received reports of foreign nationals being offered entry visas for as much as P20,000.

“We have received information that these unscrupulous individuals offer their services in securing visas and issue orders purportedly coming from the BI,” he said, adding the scammers used the logo of the BI and misrepresented themselves as representatives from the Philippine Consulate in Australia.

“The scammers sent an order instructing the applicant to pay via money transfer,” he said.  “That is a major red flag; that’s why the applicant reported the incident to us.”

Tansingco appealed to the public to immediately report such activities to the BI and other law enforcement agencies. 

“We have close coordination with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), and these kinds of online scams are considered cybercrime,” he said.