If you are preparing to travel abroad and need to renew your passport, be careful.
The Better Business Bureau is seeing a rise in online passport renewal scams.
In most cases, people end up on a fake website that appears to be a legitimate government website. Then, they are asked to hand over their contact information and pay to download the passport renewal form.
That’s a red flag.
You can download the form for free through the State Department’s website.
So before you do anything, check the URL and make sure it starts with travel.state.gov.
If it says anything else, you’re probably on a fake website.
Also, don’t pay to start the application. You won’t be asked to pay until later in the process.
Another reminder if you plan to renew your passport: Start early.
Right now, most passports take 4 to 6 weeks to process. And expedited passports take 2 to 3 weeks.