Passport scam impacting Grant County residents
By Logan Bagett on Friday, March 24th, 2023 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News Featured Stories
CANYON CITY – Grant County Clerk Brenda Percy has alerted our newsroom of a recent passport scam. Percy said she has talked to several people who have paid $200-plus in fees to online to companies such as RushMyPassort.com for passport application services.
Once the company receives the money the customer is then instructed to make an appointment with a passport application agent such as the county clerk, and the customer doesn’t really get anything for their money from the online service.
In an email to our newsroom, Percy wrote, “Long story short is if someone wants a passport they should call the Clerk’s Office at 541-575-1675 or go to www.travel.state.gov.”
The County Clerk also provided our newsroom with a screenshot, showing one particular company’s service fees. Percy wrote, “The fees shown below are not even close to being correct. The government fee for a new passport is $130 and the expedite fee is $60. The only time you can get a passport in a week is if you have an itinerary and are traveling within 2 weeks. You then have to make an appointment with the passport agency closest to where you live, which is Seattle for us.”
Report scam activity to the Federal Trade Commission through FTC online, or by telephone at 1-877-382-4357.
