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Canadian police warn immigrants over deportation scam
| Published: | 4 Jul at 6 PM |
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For the second time in a year, Canadian police are warning new immigrants to the country to ignore a phone-call based deportation threat scam.
The call comes in from a 1-800 number to migrants who have recently arrived in Canada, and purports to be from an officer of the Canada Border Services Agency. The caller accuses the recipient of being an illegal immigrant and states that he or she and family members are on a list for immediate deportation back to their country of origin.
The caller then states he can delay or even cancel the deportation on payment of an agreed sum of money direct to the caller’s bank account. Migrants have already fallen for the scam, wiring money as requested as they are terrified of being deported.
According to a spokesperson from Halifax Regional Police, at least one migrant in the Halifax area has been caught by the scam. Gerry Mills from Canada’s Immigration Settlement and Integration Service told reporters that immigrants are an easy target for cruel scams of this nature.
He added that recent arrivals have no-one to turn to for advice, and may not yet have learned to trust authority figures in their new country. As a result, they’re unsure whether the caller is real or fake, and are scared of being deported back to their home country.
One migrant who’s unlikely to be scammed is Ortal Faibushenko, who arrived in Nova Scotia five months ago and is now taking a workplace communications course provided by the Immigration Settlement and Integration Service. The course gives much-needed info on life lessons, frauds and scams as well as the English language.
Ortal has advice for other migrants, saying that in Canada as well as elsewhere there are dishonest people to watch out for. He adds that new immigrants should be careful about giving information to strangers over the phone.
The call comes in from a 1-800 number to migrants who have recently arrived in Canada, and purports to be from an officer of the Canada Border Services Agency. The caller accuses the recipient of being an illegal immigrant and states that he or she and family members are on a list for immediate deportation back to their country of origin.
The caller then states he can delay or even cancel the deportation on payment of an agreed sum of money direct to the caller’s bank account. Migrants have already fallen for the scam, wiring money as requested as they are terrified of being deported.
According to a spokesperson from Halifax Regional Police, at least one migrant in the Halifax area has been caught by the scam. Gerry Mills from Canada’s Immigration Settlement and Integration Service told reporters that immigrants are an easy target for cruel scams of this nature.
He added that recent arrivals have no-one to turn to for advice, and may not yet have learned to trust authority figures in their new country. As a result, they’re unsure whether the caller is real or fake, and are scared of being deported back to their home country.
One migrant who’s unlikely to be scammed is Ortal Faibushenko, who arrived in Nova Scotia five months ago and is now taking a workplace communications course provided by the Immigration Settlement and Integration Service. The course gives much-needed info on life lessons, frauds and scams as well as the English language.
Ortal has advice for other migrants, saying that in Canada as well as elsewhere there are dishonest people to watch out for. He adds that new immigrants should be careful about giving information to strangers over the phone.
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