Gambia: ‘Green Card Lottery email notifications are fraudulent’
By Gambia Correspondent – The American Embassy in Banjul has described as “fraudulent” notifications by email informing people that they are a Diversity Visa winner.
In a statement sent to this paper, the U.S. Embassy said it has been receiving many inquiries recently concerning these notifications by email, stating clearly that all of these emails are “fraudulent”.
“The Diversity Visa program is commonly known as the Green Card Lottery. In most cases, the individual receiving the email is requested to send a sum of money to the sender as a processing fee for the visa. The embassy would like to make clear that all of these emails are fraudulent,” the statement said, adding that the Department of State does not notify successful Diversity Visa applicants by email.
“Some of the more common fraudulent emails are: usafis.co@post.com, gov.usa.states@usa.com, u.s.states.gov@usa.com and dv.state.gov@usa.com,” the statement further stated.
For the 2011 DV Lottery, the statement went on, individuals who have won are only notified by the Department of State Kentucky Consular Center by letter.
“For the 2012 DV Lottery, individuals who have applied must check the status of their entries by returning to the website at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov on or after May 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012,” it noted.
In another development, the U.S. Embassy also announced the opening of the Ambassador’s Special Self-Help Program for interested community-based organizations and villages.
This is a grass roots assistance program that allows U.S. embassies to respond to local requests for small projects that can have a big impact on communities, especially in rural areas.
