Bots force shutdown of emergency U.S. passport application system
Scammers using automated bots have forced the State Department to shut down the country’s online emergency passport application system.
Typically, people in urgent need of a passport for life-or-death situations can schedule a free appointment through the State Department’s website.
But scheming opportunists created computer programs to scoop up the appointments, so they could sell the spots to desperate people. Some scammers were charging up to $4,000, SFGate reported.
“I posted a few days ago that my sister needed to renew her passport so she can fly out to Egypt ASAP to see our dying (at the time.. now dead) father,” one person who didn’t fall for the scam wrote on Facebook. “This person had the nerve to hit me up asking for 4k and took advantage that I was desperate.”
The State Department shut down the portal at 10 p.m. Wednesday. Now, people must call the extremely busy National Passport Information Center to schedule their appointment.
“Third parties booked all available appointments within minutes of the appointments being posted online which prevented many of you from making urgent appointments, and made it difficult to determine whether your appointment was legitimate or fraudulent,” reads a State Department FAQ. There is currently no timeline for restarting the system.
Beyond the emergency passport mess, routine passport renewals have been massively delayed in recent months. In a normal year, renewing or obtaining a passport takes six to eight weeks, but people are waiting an average of 18 weeks this year, USA Today reported.
