12 Red Flags of a Fake Admission Consultant (and What to Do)

How admission fraud usually works

• A caller or social-media ad offers a "confirmed seat" in a well-known college, often in MBBS or popular BTech branches.
• You are told seats are limited and you must pay a "booking amount" today.
• Payment is requested in cash or to an individual's or unrelated company's account.
• You receive an official-looking letter that the college has never issued.
• When counselling results arrive, the seat does not exist and the contact disappears.

The 12 red flags

• A guaranteed seat before official counselling results are out.
• "No NEET needed" for MBBS, BDS or AYUSH — there is no such route in India.
• Cash payments or payments to a personal or third-party account.
• A "donation" or any amount not on the official fee schedule.
• Urgency — "only today", "last two seats", "price goes up tomorrow".
• No written fee schedule on the institution's letterhead.
• Claims of "management contacts" or influence over counselling.
• Allotment letters sent by WhatsApp that you cannot verify on the official portal.
• Requests for your counselling login or password — never share them.
• Pressure to skip official counselling registration "because the seat is already arranged".
• No physical office, registration or verifiable identity.
• Refusal to let you speak to the college directly.

How to verify before you pay

• Check the college and course approval on the regulator's site — see how to verify a college's approval.
• Confirm the seat allotment on the official MCC, state or institutional portal using your own login.
• Call the institution using the number on its official website, not one given to you.
• Ask for the fee in writing and match it to the official fee notice.
• Pay only to the institution's account, and only after allotment.

What a legitimate adviser does instead

A genuine consultant explains eligibility, routes, deadlines and documents, helps you shortlist and fill choices, and tells you clearly what they cannot do. They never allot seats or handle seat money. Read what a good admission consultant does.

If you think you have been cheated

• Stop all further payments immediately.
• Save every chat, call log, receipt, bank statement and document.
• Contact the institution's registrar in writing to confirm whether they know of the payment or the person.
• File a complaint with the local police and on the national cybercrime reporting portal if payment was online.
• Inform the counselling authority if your login or documents were misused.