TL;DR:

In early 2025, Mumbai airport authorities detained seven Indians attempting to board flights with counterfeit Schengen (not Gulf) visas arranged by Gulf-based agents. This incident highlighted sophisticated forgery capabilities, especially among unregistered operators in Gujarat. At the same time, Mangaluru police broke up a Karnataka-based racket, involving over 300 victims collectively defrauded of ₹4 crore, with forged sponsorship documents from a firm calling itself “Hireglow Elegant Overseas International”.

Major Cases with Real Victims

Middleman networks often use layered operations:

Victims often find themselves financially ruined. Many receive entry bans or criminal notices upon arriving without legitimate visas. Even those deported are not always refunded as perpetrators vanish, leaving families without compensation. Alarmingly, the US State Department has imposed visa bans on several Indian travel agents for facilitating illegal migration. This signals that visa scam networks have extended into the global South, showing that the ripple impact of these operations spans across international borders.

Indian state governments and police units are actively disrupting these networks:

Embassies and consulates across the Gulf have also issued travel warnings over high-risk visa brokers, urging Indians to use only registered and embassy-recognised recruitment agencies.

Anyone considering Gulf migration should apply these checks:

If approached by an agent with promising offshore jobs at high costs, these steps can help avoid scams.

The impact is both personal and national:

Behind the glossy allure of Gulf work visas lie dark, predatory networks that exploit genuine aspirants. With huge sums stolen and thousands of fake visas issued, these scams are not fringe operations, they are organised fraud industries. At-risk applicants must follow official channels, verify documents personally, and remain alert to inconsistencies. Only then can they avoid falling prey and governments can curb such exploitation at scale.

Verify if they are registered with the Ministry of External Affairs (India) or the state labour department. Embassy websites often list accredited agents.

Lump-sum fees upfront, unreasonably fast processing, paperwork with no QR codes or official numbering, and any deviation from standard visa format.

Report immediately to local Cyber Crime cell and get an FIR registered. Notify the embassy or consulate of the Gulf country involved.

Major fraud clusters have emerged in Gujarat (Ahmedabad, Surat, Gandhinagar), Delhi, Karnataka (Mangaluru), and Telangana (Hyderabad).

Yes,anyone seeking overseas visas is vulnerable. The same syndicates sometimes promise tours, study visas, or migration to Canada, New Zealand, US, EU.

Indian states are invoking anti-corruption and crime laws and Gulf embassies are tightening visa agent accreditation.