The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) told the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico that a scheme to deceive people seeking to apply for or renew a U.S. passport is run from Puerto Rico. It says the scheme affected about 300,000 people and caused losses of $40 million. According to the civil suit, the hub is GovAssist LLC, incorporated on the island in October 2018 and solely owned by Scott Zuckerman.
The company has been listed with the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) as a tax-credit beneficiary under the services-export modality since 2020. The FTC says Zuckerman is a Puerto Rico resident but is not registered as a tax-decree beneficiary personally. The suit also names a Wyoming entity, Entry LLC, also owned by Zuckerman.
The FTC alleges the defendants impersonated the federal government through sites such as govassist.com, entry.com, quickpassport.com and others, designed to mimic the State Department’s official passport portal. It says they paid to place their links above the official one in Google searches. Users submitted passport photos and banking information, and no consumer received a passport; at most they received an official State Department form they could have filled out free.
Charges reached up to $499 per application versus a $165 basic fee on the official portal, and the sites displayed allegedly fake customer reviews. Filed in October, the suit seeks an injunction and financial sanctions, including refunds to consumers.