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Admission Route Planner
How to check an admission offer is real
Six checks, none of which requires you to know anything about the institution. They take about ten minutes and they settle the question.
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Eligibility, documents, seat availability, fee receipts, and callback-led guidance.
The six checks
- The sender's address. Does the email come from the institution's own domain, or from a free mail account with the institution's name in the display name? The display name is set by the sender and proves nothing.
- The letterhead. A real offer carries the institution's registered name, address and a contact number that appears on its own website.
- The reference number. Ask the admissions office to confirm the application or offer number over the phone. A number nobody can look up is not a number.
- Your details. Name spelling, course name, intake year and seat category should be exactly right. Errors here are common in fabricated letters because they are copied between candidates.
- The fee figure. Compare it against the published fee schedule. It should match to the rupee, head by head.
- The account. The beneficiary name must be the institution. Not a trust with a similar name, not a person, not a consultancy.
Check six before you act on any of them. A convincing letter usually survives one or two checks and fails a later one — which is exactly why the list is worth finishing.
The call that settles it
Find the admissions phone number on the institution's own website — not in the letter, not in the email signature, not from whoever sent it to you. Call that number and ask a single question: can you confirm this offer reference against my name?
This works because it breaks the loop. Every other detail in a fabricated offer can be copied from the real institution; the one thing that cannot be faked is the institution's own record when you reach it independently.
If something does not match
Do not pay, and do not treat a discrepancy as a clerical slip until the institution itself tells you it is one. Write to the admissions office from your own email, attach what you received, and ask them to confirm or deny it. Keep the reply.
If it turns out to be fabricated, the institution will usually want to know — their name is the thing being used. Report it to them, and keep every message, receipt and account detail in case you need it later.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I tell if an admission letter is fake?
Check the sender's domain, the reference number, your own details, the fee against the published schedule, and the beneficiary name on the account. Then call the admissions number listed on the institution's own website and ask them to confirm the reference.
The email looks completely genuine. Is that enough?
No. Letterheads, logos and formatting are trivial to copy — they are the easiest part to get right. The checks that matter are the ones a sender cannot control: the institution's own record, and the account the money goes to.
Should I pay a booking amount to hold a seat?
Only against a written offer, at a published figure, into the institution's own account, with a receipt. A holding payment that fails any of those four is not holding anything.
What if the offer came through an agent?
Verify it directly with the institution regardless. An agent forwarding a genuine offer will have no objection to you confirming it, and one who objects has told you what you needed to know.
Who do I report a fake admission offer to?
The institution being impersonated, first — they will want to know. Then your state cyber-crime portal or local police if money changed hands. Keep every message and payment record; that evidence is what makes a complaint actionable.