The emergence and circulation of a leaflet among refugees and illegal immigrants urging them to apply for asylum in Greece and refrain from returning to Turkey, has revealed the clandestine operation of ‘phantom’ NGOs. The content of the leaflet advises refugees to remain at the port of Piraeus and avoid relocating to hotspots in other parts of mainland Greece. A spike in the number of asylum applicants over the past few days on the islands of Lesvos, Chios and Samos, where there have reportedly been nearly 2,000, proves there is a coordinated attempt on the part of dubious ‘solidarity groups’ and NGOs. The rise of the asylum applications curiously coincided with the start of the implementation of the relocation of refugees back to Turkey from Greece.