Scam Warning

The Embassy has received some reports of fraud committed against U.S. citizens by Internet correspondents from China professing romantic interest.  In many of these cases, the Chinese national has hired a company to communicate with the American citizen for him/her, meaning that s/he has not actually written any of the e-mails that were sent to the American.  Likewise, the American citizen may unwittingly carry on telephone conversations with a paid consultant posing as the romantic interest.  The business models of many of these companies are reliant on the American citizen ultimately paying extremely high “consulting” fees—often the Chinese national will tell the American that s/he needs tuition for English study, but actually uses this money to pay the relationship consultant.  In some cases, when the American visits China to meet his/her Internet friend in person, a visa consultant accompanies the Chinese friend and presents the American with a demand for payment of thousands of dollars in fees.  At times, when the American citizen has refused to pay, s/he has been threatened with physical violence or unlawful detention.  The Embassy has also received reports of Internet relationship scams seeking money, rather than visas.  For instance, the Chinese person will claim they or a close family member has been kidnapped or had a large sum of money stolen and asks the American to wire them money.

While many Chinese citizens are sincere in their desire to marry and live with Americans they meet over the Internet, some are not.  It is important to remember that immigrant visas to the United States are viewed by many Chinese as having a great deal of value, and it is not uncommon for people to enter into relationships for the sole purpose of obtaining a visa. 

Unfortunately, the Embassy is unable to carry out investigations of relationships of this sort, but all Americans are urged to approach such Internet relationships with caution, and to be wary of situations which appear similar to that described above.

For further information, see http://travel.state.gov/pdf/international_financial_scams_brochure.pdf.