Don’t Get Fooled By Fake Passport Application Sites!

Passport Application Results on Google Are Sending People to Fee Charging Middlemen | Scam Detective

You searched “renew passport” or “passport application.” A result appeared. It looked official. The design matched what you expected from a government form, the language sounded authoritative, and the flow walked you through uploading your documents and paying a fee. Then you noticed the URL was not a .gov address.

That is the moment dozens of people have described in complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau in 2025 and 2026.

What These Sites Do

uspassportandvisa.org has accumulated 49 BBB reports and passportsubmission.us has accumulated 34. Both surface through paid search ads and organic results when someone looks for passport help. Both use design and language that mimic the official State Department site at travel.state.gov. Neither is a government site.

One BBB complainant from May 2026 described it plainly: “uspassportandvisa.org comes up as the first search listing in Google when searching ‘passport application,’ they take all information needed for a passport and charge for free forms that can be printed online.”

Another from May 2026 wrote that after paying, they found the charge had come from a company called “EASY FORM FILLERCOM” and immediately recognized it as a scam. A third, from June 2026, paid a fee and only learned the truth on arrival at a local post office: “Went to the local Post Office and found out that this was something that I could have done for free. SCAM!”

At best, a site like this charges a significant markup to fill out a form you can complete yourself at no cost. At worst, it collects passport-grade identity documents, including personal information for adults and children, with no obligation to protect or delete them.

A parent described exactly that risk in a June 2026 report: “Uspassportandvisa.org identified themselves as a passport agency and collect mine and my son’s info and we paid but found out it was a scam page. I don’t know how to get our info off and away from them.”

Three Signals That a Site Is Not the Real Thing

The clearest signal is the domain itself. Official U.S. government websites use the .gov top-level domain, which is restricted to verified government entities. Addresses like uspassportandvisa.org or passportsubmission.us, regardless of how they look or how official their language sounds, are not government sites.

The second signal is how you found it. One complainant from May 2026 noted the site “appeared as a sponsored result and looked like an official government page.” Third-party services buy search ads specifically to intercept people at the moment they are searching for government services. The government does not advertise its own free forms.

The third signal is an upfront fee. The State Department does charge a passport fee, but that fee is paid directly to the government through the official process. A site that collects a processing or expedite charge before your application ever reaches the State Department is inserting an unnecessary middleman.

The Safe Path

Apply only through travel.state.gov or at an official acceptance facility authorized to receive passport applications. The State Department’s passport forms are free to download and complete.

If you have already submitted information to one of these sites, place a fraud alert with one of the three major credit bureaus, review your financial accounts for unauthorized charges, and file a report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Phone number (978) 971–0688 appears in 4 reports connected to this cluster. If you receive a call from that number regarding a passport application, do not provide personal information.

What the Data Shows

Community reports categorize this as a government agency impersonation pattern. The sites collect real identity documents from real people and charge real money for a service the State Department already provides for free. Complainants report no clear way to have their data removed after the fact.

The only address you need for a U.S. passport is travel.state.gov. For the full report cluster, see /campaign/phone-reports-9789710688.

Originally published at https://isitspamchecker.com.