We have just received information that there is a fairly large scam going on concerning the Diversity Visa Lottery (DV). Fraudulent websites are posing as official US Government sites and tricking the people into making payments online in order to find out the status of their DV Entry. Most often these fraudulent scams involve emails, indicating that a person has either won the DV or advises applicants to check their status or other important information by logging on to their site. Further, these fraudulent emails indicate that a payment must be made in order to proceed further with their winning DV or in order to obtain additional information. Please be advised, that there is NO charge to check the status of your entries online, simply go to http://www.dvlottery.state.gov. Please also note that the Department of State DOES NOT notify successful DV applicants by e-mail, rather, all randomly selected applicants will be notified by regular mail. Finally, the decisions for the DV 2011 are not expected to be announced until sometime after May of this year.
If you are unsure about the information that you have received in an e-mail or by regular mail, it is always safer to consult with an attorney, who will properly guide and advise you. Do not send money by mail or through the internet to any source that you are unfamiliar with or that is questionable. For more information, please visit the Department of State's website at: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1322.html.
