UK ETA scam warning: fake websites are charging Austrians up to €900
Key Highlights
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A genuine UK Electronic Travel Authorisation costs £20. Fake versions of the same form have charged Austrian and other EU travellers up to €900, according to Austria's own federal criminal police.
Until 2025, an Austrian passport got you into the United Kingdom with nothing else to show at the border. That changed for real when the ETA requirement reached EU nationals, and scam sites moved in before most travellers had even heard the word "ETA." The good news: spotting a fake one takes about ten seconds once you know what to check, and that's the part most warnings bury at the bottom.
- The real UK ETA costs £20. The only price GOV.UK charges, since the fee's latest rise on 8 April 2026.
- Fake sites charge far more. Austrian, German and Belgian police have logged charges from £70 up to €900.
- Austrians are the newest targets. Nobody needed UK paperwork before Brexit, so the "check the URL" habit hasn't caught on.
- Apply only at gov.uk/eta/apply. No sponsored link, no "express" add-on, no email asking for bank details after approval.
- Already paid a scam site? Report it on GOV.UK and Report Fraud, then apply again at the real address.
What's going on with the UK ETA scam wave
Fake websites mimicking the UK government's ETA application are charging travellers several times the real fee, and the volume has stayed high since the requirement reached European citizens in 2025. Austrian, German and Belgian authorities flagged the pattern in spring 2025; Germany's Verbraucherzentrale NRW was still updating its warning in June 2026, calling the risk ongoing.
The pattern repeats everywhere it's been documented. A traveller searches "UK ETA," clicks a sponsored ad or the first result, and lands on a site styled to look official. It asks for a passport photo and an email, takes a card payment, then either forwards a real application at a steep markup, or does nothing.
A traveller who lands on the wrong site pays for the mistake, not for anything extra the fake site actually does.
Belgium's public broadcaster RTBF reported one couple paying €348 for two authorisations that should have cost about €24 combined (€12 each). Germany's state police crime-prevention programme has logged reports ranging from £70 to over £200. And in the Netherlands, the Fraud Helpdesk opened a dedicated file after a Belgian traveller named Eva Mertens lost over €437 after clicking one of the top search results.
Who this actually hits
Anyone who needs a UK ETA and doesn't already know the real site by heart. That's citizens of 26 of the 27 EU countries - every one except Ireland - who came into scope when the rollout reached European nationals for travel from 2 April 2025. British and Irish citizens, including dual citizens, don't need one.
Full enforcement started on 25 February 2026: airlines, ferry operators and Eurostar must now refuse boarding without a valid ETA or visa. This isn't fine print any more. It's the difference between boarding and standing at the check-in desk.
For the fuller walkthrough of who needs what and how the application itself works, see our breakdown of the UK ETA and ETIAS rules for visa-exempt travellers.
What to do right now if you need a UK ETA
Apply directly at gov.uk/eta/apply or through the official UK ETA app, and nowhere else. Everything on this list is really just about confirming you did that.
- Address bar reads gov.uk, not "eta-uk", "ukvisa" or any lookalike domain
- Price is £20 flat, no separate "service" or "processing" charge on top
- You typed the address yourself, not an ad or the top search result
- Nobody promises guaranteed approval or a same-day "express" service
- No email after payment asking you to confirm card or bank details
We'd never trust a UK government form to a sponsored search result. Type gov.uk into the address bar yourself, every single time, rather than clicking whatever loads first.
Already paid a fake site? Check your email (including spam) and the official UK ETA app first - some scam sites do forward a genuine application at a markup, so you may already have a real ETA before paying gov.uk again. If nothing turns up, apply again at the real address. Then report the loss through GOV.UK's immigration scam tool and to Report Fraud if you paid by card, for a crime reference number your bank will want before opening a chargeback.
We'd treat any site quoting more than £20 as a red flag on its own.
How this scam got so big, so fast
The ETA itself is genuinely new for EU travellers, and a genuinely new rule is exactly what a scam site is built to exploit. The UK launched the ETA for Gulf-state nationals in 2023 at £10, then widened it in stages until European citizens joined on 2 April 2025.
The fee has climbed with the rollout: £10 at launch, then £16 on 9 April 2025, then £20 on 8 April 2026, a 25 percent jump in one step. Each increase gets its own wave of press coverage, and each wave is a fresh chance for a scam site to look current.
Travellers already accustomed to their own country's electronic-authorisation system for inbound visitors mostly know to go straight to the government site. Austrians, and EU citizens generally, never needed anything beyond a passport for the UK before Brexit. We'd guess most of the scam's success comes from that gap, not from cleverer fake sites. It's a pattern we've seen before: our look at the WhatsApp scam wave hitting Booking.com guests found the same trick, a new-looking request dressed up to feel official.
So the red flags hold across borders, not just Austria's. the3million.org.uk and Verbraucherzentrale NRW both flag the same signals:
| Signal | Genuine UK ETA | Scam sites (reported) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £20 flat | £70 to €900, reported in Austria, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands |
| Domain | gov.uk | Lookalikes: "eta-uk", "ukvisa" |
| How you got there | Typed the address yourself | A sponsored ad or the top search result |
| Decision pressure | None | "Express" approval, a guaranteed outcome |
| After you pay | Nothing further needed | An email asking to confirm card or bank details |
A genuine UK ETA never triggers a single row in that right-hand column. Malwarebytes adds one more: check who owns a sponsored ad before clicking it.
What to watch next
The Home Office says the ETA fee is "kept under review," so a further rise is possible, though nothing new had been announced as of September 2026. The nearer-term risk is seasonal: Austria's Herbstferien run from 27 to 31 October 2026, directly after the 26 October Nationalfeiertag long weekend, and a quick trip to London is a common pick for that week.
So that week is exactly when a rushed, last-minute ETA application is most likely, and a rushed application is exactly when a sponsored ad wins the click. Sort yours out before the queue builds, not the weekend before you fly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the UK ETA a scam?
No. The ETA itself is a real UK government requirement, introduced in stages since 2023 and covering EU citizens since April 2025. The scam is a wave of fake third-party websites copying the real form and charging far more than the official £20 fee.
How much does a UK ETA actually cost in 2026?
£20 per person, flat, regardless of nationality or age. That's been the official price since 8 April 2026, when it rose 25 percent from the previous £16.
Do Austrians and other EU citizens need a UK ETA?
Every EU nationality except Ireland's has needed one since the rollout reached Europe on 2 April 2025, and carriers have refused boarding to anyone without one since 25 February 2026. British and Irish citizens, including dual citizens, remain exempt.
Can I get my money back if I already paid a third-party site?
Maybe, through your card issuer rather than the scam site. Check your email and the UK ETA app first, since some fake sites do forward a genuine, marked-up application - you may not need to reapply. Then report it on GOV.UK and to Report Fraud, since both issue a reference number your bank will usually want before opening a chargeback.
How do I check whether my ETA application is genuine?
Look at the address bar before you type anything. If it doesn't start with gov.uk, close the tab. The real form never asks for a follow-up payment or a bank confirmation by email after you've "applied."
Why do Austrians suddenly need paperwork for the UK when they never did before?
Because Brexit ended the UK's automatic recognition of EU passports, and the ETA is the replacement requirement. It's genuinely new, which is why so few Austrian travellers have the "check the URL" reflex that Americans and Australians already picked up.
Key Takeaways
- The real UK ETA costs £20, full stop. Anything more is a marked-up middleman at best and a scam at worst.
- Apply at gov.uk/eta/apply, typed by hand. Never through a sponsored ad, an email link, or any site that isn't gov.uk.
- Austrians are the newest targets, not the only ones. Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands logged the same scam in 2025, and Germany's warning was still active in June 2026.
- A follow-up email asking for bank details is the tell. The genuine ETA process never emails you for payment after approval.
- Keep the confirmation once you have it. Filing your passport and ETA approval with the rest of your paperwork, the way document storage in apps like TripProf lets you do, saves you hunting for proof at the boarding gate. Our own travel document checklist covers what else belongs there.
Sources
- UK Home Office, ETA factsheet (April 2026)
- Electronic Travel Authorisation (United Kingdom), Wikipedia
- European Commission, DG Migration and Home Affairs, on the 2 April 2025 rollout
- iamexpat.de on the April 2026 fee rise
- UK Parliament, written statement on ETA enforcement (25 February 2026)
- Bates Wells, background on the carrier-enforcement rule
- GOV.UK, phishing and scam website reporting guidance
- Salzburger Nachrichten on Austria's Bundeskriminalamt warning
- ScamAdviser on the Eva Mertens case
- German police crime-prevention programme
- Verbraucherzentrale NRW
- RTBF on the Belgian scam case
- the3million.org.uk, ETA scam FAQ
- Malwarebytes on how the scam sites operate
- Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Herbstferien dates
- OfficeHolidays, Austria's National Day 2026
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