CAT: Government Agency Imposter · REPORTED September 12, 2026

USA Passports scam

A government agency imposter scam report, targeting a consumer in Wakefield, RI, USA - 02879 with a reported loss of $467.

Narrative evidence

What happened

As soon as I submitted payment, I realized it was a scam--SO STUPID of me. I contacted them immediately, and they responded assuring me it was not a scam and pointing me to the list of approved registered courier companies on the government web site. I believe what they do is override an approved company, and then send the unsuspecting (like dumb me) to their web site. I contacted my credit card company, and they advised me to wait two weeks, and if I had not received a passport by then to put in for a dispute; however, today, I again contacted the scammers, asking what was going on. They responded as follows: "Hello, Thank you for reaching out to us. Your application is currently on hold since, per our records, you indicated in another ticket that we are a scam company and requested a refund. We did provide you with the proof, after which we offered you a 20% discount and proceeded with your order at the discounted rate. Would you like us to proceed with your application? After you confirm, we will send you a fully prepared package with an instruction checklist that you will need to follow." I explained to them that no such response was made, and I questioned the legitimacy and need of a discount if the transaction was valid. THEN they forwarded what they claimed to be their response from my initial complaint with them: " [email protected] 3, 8:41 AM Subject: Re: 566514 is your sign-in code Hello, Thank you for reaching out. We understand the confusion. Agency Passports is the registered courier agency, while USA Passports is the non-government service provider operating under that agency. Agency Passports is listed on the U.S. Department of State website under registered courier companies. Your order is fully prepared, and we are happy to proceed with your application at a discounted rate. If you would like to continue, we can apply a 20% discount to your total order. Would you like to proceed? Again, please reply back to this email confirming if you accept, and we will be happy to apply 20% discount and proceed with your application." This blew my mind. Total gaslighting! At no time did they send me this response. In any event, in the past week, charges totaling over $1000 have been attempted on my account. I cancelled that card on Wednesday, and my credit card company is putting forth my dispute today. I am getting my money back, but they have MUCH of my personal information. Please, when going online to renew a passport, only go to the ".gov" web site. I KNOW this and still allowed myself to be scammed.

Community warning

How to protect yourself from government agency imposter scams

  • Never send money, gift cards or crypto to anyone you have not independently verified.
  • Search the business name, website, email and phone number here before paying.
  • Be wary of urgency, secrecy, upfront fees and “too good to be true” prices.
  • If you have paid, contact your bank or card issuer immediately to dispute the charge.
  • Report to Action Fraud (UK), the FTC (US) or your national authority, and add your occurrence above.

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