The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) reported today on the detection of a payment scam that could have affected customers of the Finnish embassy in Bangkok (Thailand).
"According to a bulletin (2 September 2019) published by the Embassy of Finland in Bangkok, a person who has applied for a residence permit in Finland from Thailand has received a falsified payment order from an unknown sender", informed Migri in its website.
The Finnish embassy in Bangkok also reported the case: "One residence permit applicant has received a falsified payment order for a Finnish residence permit application fee. The payment order has been sent by email from an unknown person with false bank details, recipient and fee. The requested payment amount has been more than a double of the correct application fee".
For the present, the embassy is aware of one case and two further cases are suspected.
The embassy advises applicants to be alert in dealing with the application and payment procedures in connection with residence permits. And especially to pay attention to the following matters:
- Check the current service fees at the embassy website HERE
- Electronically submitted applications are handled in the Enter Finland online service, including the communication between the customer and authority, not by separate email correspondence.
- Embassy’s email addresses end with @formin.fi. Emails are never sent from gmail, hotmail or other similar addresses.
- When in doubt, please check the application and payment procedures from the Embassy.
- If you have been scammed, contact the police and inform the Embassy, as well at [email protected]
The Embassy of Finland in Bangkok is currently investigating the matter.
