China Digital Arrival Card scam sites: how to spot them and what to do if you paid one

On November 20, 2025, China's National Immigration Administration (NIA) launched a mandatory Digital Arrival Card (CDAC) for all foreign travelers entering mainland China. Within two weeks, scam sites started appearing — sites that look like the official portal, charge "processing fees," collect passport data, and either deliver a fake QR code or no QR code at all.

On December 2, 2025, the NIA issued an urgent public notice warning about these fake sites. Multiple national-level Chinese embassies posted similar warnings to their citizens-abroad bulletins within days. Coverage spread to China Daily HK, Visahq, Laurus Travel, Travel and Tour World, and travel forums by mid-December.

This article tells you exactly how to recognize a scam CDAC site, what to do if you've already paid one, and how to verify you're on the real portal — because the official service is free and using a scam site can delay you at immigration on arrival.

What the official CDAC service actually is

• Operated by the National Immigration Administration of the People's Republic of China.
• Free. No fee under any circumstance. Anyone charging you a fee is not the NIA.
• Accessible only through one of four official channels:
  • The official portal: s.nia.gov.cn/ArrivalCardFillingPC/ (desktop) or s.nia.gov.cn/ArrivalCardFillingPhone (mobile)
  • The "NIA 12367" official app (iOS / Android)
  • The official WeChat mini-program "出入境信息申报"
  • The official Alipay mini-program "国家移民管理局" (search "arrival card")
• Must be completed within 72 hours before arrival. The system rejects earlier submissions.
• Generates a QR code / barcode that you show at immigration on arrival.

Any service that doesn't match the four channels above is unofficial — and most are scams.

How scam sites work

From the NIA's December 2025 notice and follow-up reporting, the scam pattern has two main variants:

1. The "processing fee" trap. A look-alike site uses NIA branding, often with a similar URL (e.g. ending in .com, .net, .org). The user fills out the form, then is presented with a payment page charging USD 20-40 for "expedited" or "guaranteed" processing. The user pays, receives either a real QR code (which the scam site filed for them through the real NIA portal) or an invalid QR code that fails at immigration.
2. The data-harvesting trap. A look-alike site mimics the official form but never actually files anything with NIA. The user gives away their passport number, date of birth, photo of passport identity page, flight details, and home address. The scammer either sells this data, uses it for identity theft, or follows up with phishing emails. The user arrives at immigration without an actual CDAC record and is delayed or sent to fill a paper form on the spot.

The single rule that prevents every scam

Only domains ending in .nia.gov.cn are real.

Anything else — .com, .net, .org, .app, .travel, etc. — is not the National Immigration Administration. This is the only rule you need. If you remember nothing else from this article, remember the URL ends in .gov.cn.

The NIA does not publish a public blocklist of fake domains because scammers register new ones daily. Trying to maintain a "list of fake sites" is a losing game. The reliable rule is the domain check.

Red flags that point to a scam site

• The URL does not end in .nia.gov.cn.
• You arrived at the site from a sponsored ad at the top of Google or Bing search results. Scammers frequently buy paid placements to outrank the official NIA result. Do not click sponsored ads for arrival cards.
• The site asks for a fee, "service charge," "expedited processing," or "guarantee."
• The site promises faster approval, premium handling, or VIP service.
• The site asks you to upload your passport image before showing you a form to fill out.
• The site's branding looks slightly off — wrong NIA logo, missing English/Chinese bilingual labels, stock photos of travelers that don't match Chinese government style.
• The URL has typos or extra hyphens — e.g. china-arrival-card.com, cn-immigration-form.app, nia-china.org. These are all unofficial.
• The site is hosted on a YouTube ad or TikTok ad. Recent reporting from Laurus Travel (Feb 2026) documented scam sites being promoted through video ad networks.

How to verify you're on the real portal

1. Type s.nia.gov.cn directly into your browser. Don't follow a Google result, don't follow an email link.
2. Check the URL bar carefully. The domain must be exactly s.nia.gov.cn with no extra characters. If you see sn.iagov.cn, s.nia.gov.cn.something.com, or anything that just contains "nia.gov.cn" as a substring, it's fake.
3. The page should load in either English or Chinese (it auto-detects from browser language). The interface is functional, not flashy — Chinese government sites are deliberately plain.
4. Cross-check against an official source: the NIA English landing page is at en.nia.gov.cn. Their "Online Arrival Card Filling Service" page links to the real portal.
5. Cross-check against your home country's Chinese embassy notice. Most embassies posted official notices in December 2025 with the real URL. Example: the PRC Embassy in Singapore posted a notice on December 1, 2025 with the official URL clearly listed.

What to do if you've already paid a scam site

1. File a new CDAC on the real site immediately. Go to s.nia.gov.cn/ArrivalCardFillingPC and submit a fresh form. The system accepts new submissions; there's no penalty for multiple submissions, just take the most recent one to immigration.
2. Dispute the credit-card charge. Contact your card issuer, report the charge as fraudulent ("misrepresentation of services"). Most US, EU, UK, and AU card issuers will reverse the charge given the NIA's public warning. Reference the NIA's December 2, 2025 notice as supporting evidence.
3. Change passwords on any account that shares info with what you gave the scam site. Especially email, banking, and your home government's online services. The scammers may use the data for downstream phishing.
4. Watch for follow-up phishing emails. Scam-site operators often follow up with emails pretending to be your airline, asking you to "complete your travel registration" or "verify your itinerary." Don't click. Go directly to your airline's official site if you need to verify anything.
5. Report the scam site to NIA. The 12367 official app has a reporting function. Reporting helps NIA + Ministry of Public Security target rogue domains. NIA stated in their December notice that they are actively working with public security to take down these sites.

The five-step real form (so you know what's normal)

On the real s.nia.gov.cn portal, the form has five steps. If a site you're looking at is missing any of these or adds extra steps (especially payment), it's not the real one.

1. Passport photo upload. Photograph the data page of your passport. OCR auto-fills name, passport number, nationality, date of birth.
2. Personal data confirmation. Verify and correct OCR mistakes (especially O vs 0, I vs 1, B vs 8 — these are the most common misreads).
3. Trip details. Flight number, China port, arrival date, address in China (hotel or host), exit date, exit destination.
4. Digital signature. A finger or mouse signature. Some platforms accept a typed signature; check what's offered on your device.
5. QR code / barcode generation. Save the QR code to your phone. Print it if you can. You'll show it at immigration on arrival.

Total time on the real site: 5-10 minutes. If a site takes longer or asks for anything beyond these five steps (payment, "verification," "ID proofing"), it's not the real one.

The official URL one more time, in plain text

https://s.nia.gov.cn/ArrivalCardFillingPC/

Bookmark it now. Use it within 72 hours of your flight. Pay no one anything.

Related guides

• CDAC step-by-step walkthrough — the full form interface explained
• Denied boarding under 240h transit — the other major friction point before you arrive at immigration
• 240h eligibility check — confirm your trip qualifies before you bother with CDAC at all