The U.S. Embassy has received inquiries from people who are victims of a world-wide scam involving the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) Program, also known as the visa lottery.  The scammers behind these fraudulent emails and letters pose as the U.S. government in an attempt to extract payment from Diversity Visa applicants.  To avoid becoming a victim of this scam, please read the following advice from the Embassy.

The U.S. government never contacts visa lottery winners via the Internet.  Scammers are using increasingly sophisticated techniques that often use the Embassy’s address or name an actual person at the U.S. Embassy as the point of contact.  This would never happen if you really had won the visa lottery.  The U.S. Government will NOT ask you to send money to them or to the Embassy.  Any message that asks you to send money, by mail or by services such as Western Union, is a scam even if a legitimate Embassy address is provided.

The only way to apply for the Diversity Visa Program is through the official U.S. Department of State website during the specified registration period which takes place annually in the Fall.  If you have never registered for the program, you will NOT be contacted in regard to this program and should find it strange if contacted regarding your winning.

If you registered for the Diversity Visa Program, you will be notified of your selection online. Entrants will be able to use their unique confirmation number provided at registration to check online through Entry Status Check at https://dvprogram.state.gov/ to see if their entry was selected. Successful entrants will receive instructions for how to apply for immigrant visas for themselves and their eligible family members.