As graduation season and summer holidays approach, many people are planning to travel abroad, but caution is required when applying for visas or travel certificates due to the presence of fake websites. A woman from Taichung, Ms. Tseng, along with her husband, discovered just before boarding that they had not applied for the UK travel certificate and urgently accessed a site named IVISA for their application.

After filling in her name, passport, and password, Ms. Tseng paid 14,039 NTD by credit card but did not receive a verification code, and the website required her to upload a photo which she was unable to complete. Ultimately, with assistance from airline staff, they managed to apply for the travel certificate through the official UK website.

They subsequently filed a dispute with the bank but still experienced a deduction. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that IVISA was a fraudulent website. The bank has refunded Ms. Tseng. Experts warn travelers to be cautious and verify website authenticity to avoid falling victim to scams during the busy travel season.