The Consulate-General of India in São Paulo has issued an urgent advisory after detecting a surge in fraudulent portals mimicking the Government of India’s e-Visa site. The notice, posted on 24 July, lists dozens of look-alike domains and urges travellers to use only the official URL (indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa). Scammers have been charging “processing fees” up to US $200—five times higher than the government fee—while collecting passport data and credit-card details. Several Brazilian and Indian business travellers reported denied boarding when airlines could not validate the bogus visas. The mission has asked airlines and travel agents to cross-check e-Visa barcodes against the Indian immigration system (BOI) before issuing boarding passes. For multinational mobility teams, the advisory highlights persistent cyber-fraud risks in self-service visa channels. Companies should circulate the official link, embed it in corporate booking tools and consider centralising e-Visa applications through vetted partners. Data-security teams should warn employees against uploading passports to unverified sites and recommend virtual cards for government fee payments. Failure to secure a genuine e-Visa can lead to last-minute trip cancellations, financial loss and potential data breaches. The consulate says victims should file police reports and email visa.gru@mea.gov.in with evidence for possible chargebacks, but recovery is not guaranteed. Preventive education therefore remains the best defence.
