I got an email inviting me to interview for a postdoc position at ORNL. Everything looks legitimate; the senders have .gov emails, and I looked up the people behind the emails, and it ties back to the official ORNL webpage. I even had a video call with one of the senders for an initial HR screening, and she matched with the picture of the person linked to the email on the official ORNL website.
However, even before getting an on-site interview or virtual panel interview, they sent me a link to https://guest.ornl.gov/ where I needed to enter my last four digits of my SSN and EAD card number on that website.
Today, I also got a email asking me to send a copy of my visa and passport in a password-protected file through email. I'm hesistant because I have not yet scheduled an on-site interview or been extended an offer yet, so far I have only scheduled a virtual panel interview about two months from now.
Moreover, although the guest.ornl.gov link does appear legitimate due to the .gov extension, it did not appear to be a common link used by ORNL when I searched for it online. I instead found a similar and more common link: user.ornl.gov, which is a replica of the guest link website.
Could someone please let me know if they have been in a similar situation or if this is expected for ORNL postdoc interviews?