14 DAY TRIAL // The authorities came across a large number of websites that apparently offer their services in helping individuals obtain birth, death, marriage or divorce certificates, but as it turns out, they request a number of fees for things that are available for free on government sites.
SCAMwatch released an advisory to help citizens in Australia and around the world learn how to deal with such phony websites.
In many situations, people need to obtain certain documents in the fastest time possible and that's the main thing these paper markets rely on the most. Since any kind of certificate is available only through official government registries, there's nothing they can actually do but intermediate these actions.
However, the fake websites set up for these services rely very much on images and symbols that try to replicate genuine government pages, which means that while their customers believe they're being helped, in fact, they end up paying for papers that they'll never actually see.
In an effort to seem as legitimate as possible, the so-called organizations will provide some documentation which they obtain for free, but in return they'll request fees or financial information that they may use to commit credit card fraud.
While some may provide payment methods they claim are secure, in most cases they turn out to actually be unencrypted and some will even subscribe you for ongoing payments.
Internet users are advised to document a service that offers birth, death, divorce or marriage certificates. Read online reviews since people who fell for a scam will in most cases report fraudulent activities.
Always use the links provided by official government websites and even if you're asked for a certificate fee, you'll never be required to pay for information.
Legitimate government sites never come with extensions such as .com or .org, so make sure the domain you're relying on to obtain the documents has the .gov extension.
Finally, when making payments, make sure that the connection the site is using is identified by the use of https or the padlock icon that usually represents a secure page.