Online Scams in Rotorua

NZeTA Third-Party Visa Application Scam

Fraudulent third-party websites impersonate New Zealand's official NZeTA (Electronic Travel Authority) application portal and charge tourists up to 15 times the legitimate fee — as much as NZD $269 versus the official NZD $17 mobile app rate. Immigration New Zealand has issued formal warnings and pursued legal action against around a dozen such sites, some of which process the visa but pocket the markup, while others simply take payment and disappear. The scam targets visitors who search for "NZeTA apply" rather than navigating directly to the official government portal.