Fake UK ETA websites: sites charging up to 10x the real price
If you're heading to London or anywhere in the UK and you're not a British or Irish citizen, since February 25, 2026 you need an ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) before you travel. You search "UK ETA" on Google and several sites show up with a UK flag, a polished form, and payment ready to go. The problem: most of them aren't the government, and they charge several times the real price for something you can do yourself in minutes.
How this scam works
The ETA has been mandatory since February 2026
The ETA is the online authorization the UK requires from travelers who previously entered visa-free (including most Latin American passports). It became mandatory for all visa-exempt travelers on February 25, 2026. Since it's a new and still unfamiliar process, it's fertile ground for sites that exploit the confusion.
Hundreds of complaints already filed across Europe
As soon as the system launched, complaints started rolling in: in just the first few weeks, the Dutch Fraud Helpdesk received close to 400 reports about fake ETA websites, with similar patterns reported in Germany and France. These sites often show up first in paid search results (the ads at the very top), exactly where people least expect to be suspicious.
They charge up to 10 times the official price
These sites charge between £40 and £200 (or more) for a process that costs £20 on the official site. And it's not just the overcharge: many don't even complete the real application, so on top of overpaying, the traveler can end up at the airport without a valid authorization.
How to identify the official site
The only real domain is gov.uk
The process is only done at gov.uk/eta/apply or through the official "UK ETA" app, published by the Home Office on the App Store and Google Play. Any .com, .org, .net, or even a .uk site that isn't gov.uk is a middleman, not the government, no matter how closely it copies the design or how high it ranks on Google.
The official fee is £20
Since April 8, 2026, the ETA costs £20, paid once, with no refunds. Any amount well above that (£40, £60, £100 or more) is either a middleman's markup at best, or an outright scam.
If you already overpaid, act fast
If you paid on a site that turned out not to be official, contact your bank or card issuer to request a chargeback as soon as possible, and reapply directly at gov.uk/eta/apply to make sure you have a valid authorization before you travel: a payment to an unofficial site doesn't guarantee the real application was ever completed.
A simpler way to check your trip
If you already paid for something related to a UK ETA, ESTA, ETIAS, or an online visa and it left you with doubts, upload the receipt to AuditorTravel: in seconds it tells you, with a simple traffic light (🟢 🟡 🔴), if there's something worth checking before you travel.
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