FTC Discovers Fraudulent Diversity Lottery Websites
Posted Oct 24, 2003

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revealed that there are eight U.S. websites which have been accused of fraudulently taking money as payment for submitting applications for the FY2005 diversity lottery. While money did change hands, no applications were filed. In fact, the applications to make a FY2005 lottery application cannot be filed before November 1, 2003, with a deadline of December 30, 2003.

An October 9, 2003 "Washington Post" article explained that the FTC discovered these websites were claiming fictitious affiliations with the federal government. Moreover, in addition to taking money with no intention to make filings, they may cause their customers to fail to make proper filings for the FY2005 Diversity Lottery. Only one application is allowed. People who believe they have filed will not be likely to make a second filing.

Combined, the eight websites are believed to have brought in approximately $3 million dollars in sales of diversity lottery applications. Civil complaints by the FTC are already being initiated. The sites charged fees ranging from $40 to $250.

Only small portions of the persons who apply for a chance to obtain permanent residence through the diversity lottery process are chosen each year. Therefore, not all persons who filed through these sites would have been chosen for the FY2005 lottery, even with a proper application. This does not excuse websites seeking to misrepresent their services and charge fees when, in fact, they do not intend to provide the services promised. More information regarding the lottery, as well as links to the official U.S. Department of State lottery information and application instructions are contained in our August 29, 2003 MurthyBulletin article, DV-2005 Lottery Instructions, Electronic Filing Required, and on the Lottery section of MurthyDotCom.

We encourage those readers who may file for future diversity lotteries to fully investigate any services that claim to file diversity lottery applications and to submit their own applications via the Department of State's official WebSite, rather than relying on other agencies or organizations to file their applications. There is no filing fee required to enter the visa lottery. If selected, there are filing fees for the necessary I-485, Application to Adjust Status to Permanent Residence, or for Visa Application and Issuance fees for consular processing for an immigrant visa at a U.S. Consulate in the applicant's home country.