The Federal Trade Commission says two websites that look like passport services charged travelers at least $148 for help that was advertised at $89, when the application itself is free from the State Department. The agency sued the companies behind GovAssist.com and Entry.com on October 22, 2026, in federal court in Puerto Rico.
The complaint, announced in an FTC press release, names GovAssist LLC, Entry LLC and their owner and sole member, Scott Zuckerman. These are allegations, and no court has ruled on them.
For anyone renewing a passport before a winter trip, the practical question is how to avoid paying a middleman. The FTC says the defendants bought paid Google search ads so their sites appeared at the top when people searched for phrases such as “passport renewal online.” Anyone who clicked a sponsored result instead of typing the government’s web address may have landed on one of these sites.
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Where the $89 became $148
The FTC says the defendants advertised services that “start at $89.” The lowest actual price, according to the agency, was $119 plus a $29 shipping fee, for $148 in all. The FTC adds that the State Department’s own fee was downplayed or left out, so some customers did not realize they still had to pay the government separately.
That is where the real bill grows. The State Department’s renewal page lists $130 for a passport book, $30 for a card and $160 for both, plus $60 more for expedited service. The government fee is separate from anything a third-party site charges, and the State Department warns that “some companies may charge a fee for you to fill out your passport form.”
What the FTC says the sites promised
According to the complaint, the sites claimed they could directly issue U.S. passports, which the FTC says is false. Many customers, the agency says, received only a completed application they could have obtained free from the State Department website. The sites also advertised expedited service in 6 to 10 or 3 to 4 business days, which the FTC says is faster than the State Department’s fastest expedited option.
The FTC also alleges the companies led consumers to believe they were dealing with the federal government or an authorized provider. They are neither, the agency says. The third site named in the release is IVS.us, which the FTC says showed up as a top sponsored result alongside Entry.com.
Fake reviews and a prior order
The sites touted an “excellent rating” from Trustpilot and other review platforms. The FTC alleges that rating rested on large numbers of fake positive reviews. The agency also says Zuckerman ran the passport business while under a final administrative order from an earlier, unrelated FTC case against Support King LLC, which involved stalkerware and data privacy.
The FTC says the defendants violated the FTC Act, its Impersonation Rule and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The commission voted 2-0 to authorize staff to file the complaint. The release does not state the specific relief the FTC is asking the court to order, and it does not say how many customers paid.
What the agency says about it
“Using paid Google search ads and landing pages to impersonate the government and target American travelers is illegal,” said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. He called the action “a stark warning that the FTC will pursue all bad actors.”
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico and the State Department assisted. Anyone who paid one of these sites can report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The release announces no refunds yet, so the report is the first step the agency points to. A card used on a site like this is also a card number held by a stranger, which is why a fraud alert or credit freeze deserves a look.
Paid a lookalike passport site $148 already?
The FTC says customers of these sites handed over a card number and personal details to companies that were not the government, and the release announces no refunds. Details like a name, address and birth date, once typed into the wrong site, can be used again.
The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit includes the free credit-freeze steps, the first-hour recovery plan and a fraud evidence and report log, so a traveler who paid a lookalike site has a sequence to follow and a record to hand to the FTC.
Get the Senior Fraud Defense kit’s credit-freeze steps and passport-site report log →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
