How does the "Overcharged and hidden fees" scam work for MBBS abroad?

The university's real tuition is public. The agent quotes a "package" two to three times higher, folds in vague "processing", "hostel deposit" and "visa handling" charges, and pockets the difference — often while the family believes it is all going to the college. You are quoted one all-inclusive figure and discouraged from contacting the university directly ("they only deal through authorised agents"). Fees are demanded in instalments to the agent's or a company's account, not the university's. New charges appear after you've committed: "ministry attestation", "airport clearance", "insurance", "document translation". The receipt, if any, is on the agent's letterhead — never the university's.

How do I check before paying?

Find the college on our directory and open its official website; tuition for international students is almost always published. Email the university's international office from their own site and ask for the fee structure in writing. Ask a verified student at that college what they actually paid — they will tell you.

🚩 Scam pattern

Overcharged and hidden fees

The university's real tuition is public. The agent quotes a "package" two to three times higher, folds in vague "processing", "hostel deposit" and "visa handling" charges, and pockets the difference — often while the family believes it is all going to the college.

0 reviewed reports and 6 first-person stories of this pattern on TrustMBBS.

How it usually goes

You are quoted one all-inclusive figure and discouraged from contacting the university directly ("they only deal through authorised agents").
Fees are demanded in instalments to the agent's or a company's account, not the university's.
New charges appear after you've committed: "ministry attestation", "airport clearance", "insurance", "document translation".
The receipt, if any, is on the agent's letterhead — never the university's.

Red flags

🚩 No fee breakdown in writing
🚩 Payment to a personal or "consultancy" bank account
🚩 Pressure to pay a deposit today to "block the seat"
🚩 Refusal to share the university's official fee page

How to verify in 10 minutes

Find the college on our directory and open its official website; tuition for international students is almost always published.
Email the university's international office from their own site and ask for the fee structure in writing.
Ask a verified student at that college what they actually paid — they will tell you.

Check a name now Ask a verified student

Stories of this pattern

📰 From the news 1 Nov 2026

Hall tickets withheld, biometric attendance blocked over a fifth year's fees: Telangana's fee committee orders private medical colleges to refund the excess, 14 August 2026

In Telangana, private medical college fees are fixed in block periods by the Telangana Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC). In August 2026 it had to…

📍 Hyderabad, India

📰 From the news 1 Nov 2026

Tuition for 5.5 years on a 4.5-year course, 11 complaints, Rs 24.75 lakh at Saveetha: Tamil Nadu's 2026 medical fee probe and its letter to the NMC

In Tamil Nadu the fee for an MBBS seat is supposed to be fixed. The State Fee Determination Committee sets ceilings for private colleges, and the National Medi…

📍 Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, Chennai, India

📰 From the news 1 Nov 2026

Rs2.1 million at admission, five per cent a year, CPI on top: the PMDC fee-increase notification the Lahore High Court suspended in September 2026

Private medical college fees in Pakistan are set within limits fixed by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), and every change to those limits is arg…

📍 Lahore, Pakistan

📰 From the news 24 Sep 2026

The fee is fixed by the commission, not by the college: Nepal's 2025 agreement to stop private medical colleges charging above the official MBBS rate

Nepal is the closest MBBS destination for many Indian students, with a curriculum and exam culture that feel familiar, and a fee that is, in law, set by the st…

📍 Kathmandu, Nepal

📰 From the news 24 Sep 2026

Rs 1.8 million a year, and a refund if you were charged more: the PMDC fee cap every private medical college in Pakistan now has to obey

Watim Medical and Dental College in Rawalpindi is one of dozens of private colleges in Pakistan that admit MBBS students on merit lists published under the reg…

📍 Watim Medical and Dental College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

📰 From the news 12 Sep 2026

Fees collected but never remitted, tourist visas sold as student visas: why the Indian embassy in Manila told students to pay universities directly

The Philippines is one of the largest destinations for Indian medical students — English-medium, US-pattern MD programmes, a large Indian community — and its a…

📍 Manila, Philippines

No reviewed reports of this exact pattern yet — which only means nobody has reported one here. If it happened to you, report it or tell the story.

Other patterns

Forced unrelated services Fake admission or "guaranteed seat" Fake or scam websites Impersonating a real college or agent Other scams and traps

Overcharged and hidden fees

How it usually goes

Red flags

How to verify in 10 minutes

Stories of this pattern

Hall tickets withheld, biometric attendance blocked over a fifth year's fees: Telangana's fee committee orders private medical colleges to refund the excess, 14 August 2026

Tuition for 5.5 years on a 4.5-year course, 11 complaints, Rs 24.75 lakh at Saveetha: Tamil Nadu's 2026 medical fee probe and its letter to the NMC

Rs2.1 million at admission, five per cent a year, CPI on top: the PMDC fee-increase notification the Lahore High Court suspended in September 2026

The fee is fixed by the commission, not by the college: Nepal's 2025 agreement to stop private medical colleges charging above the official MBBS rate

Rs 1.8 million a year, and a refund if you were charged more: the PMDC fee cap every private medical college in Pakistan now has to obey

Fees collected but never remitted, tourist visas sold as student visas: why the Indian embassy in Manila told students to pay universities directly

Other patterns

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