Canadian government declares March as Fraud Prevention Month. As you have heard or read, fraud comes in many different forms: fraud from the internet, email and phone scams, money, savings, identity theft, document, marriage fraud and most of all immigration fraud.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is the agency that collects information on fraud and identity theft. They provide information on past and current scams affecting Canadians. They reported that the impact of fraud so far this year as of January 31, 2021 : Canadian reports of fraud: 4,833; Canadian victims of fraud: 3,313 and Lost to fraud: $ 10.1 M. The impact of COVID-19 fraud between March 6, 2020 and February 28, 2021: Canadian reports of COVID-19 fraud: 13,553; Canadian victims of COVID-19 fraud 11,789 and Lost to COVID-19 fraud is $7.2 M.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre partners with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ontario Provincial Police and Competition Bureau Canada. The same office received reports in scams and frauds linked to COVID-19 vaccines. To combat or fight fraud, the Canadian government aside from creating a special office or agency (the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre), provides online resources to warn people against fraud namely: Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation, Cyber Safe Guide for Small and Medium Business, Get Cyber Safe, Office of Consumer Affairs, Consumer Measures Committee, Office of the Privacy Commissioner Canada, Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. I will focus on immigration fraud.
Each year Canada accepts hundreds of thousands of immigrants, visitors, and international students. There are people out there taking advantage of those who want to come to Canada either to visit, work, study or immigrate. Some rely on information from social media or suspicious websites or unknown sources. The Government of Canada continues to address immigration fraud to protect those who wish to come to Canada. As reported by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada or IRCC, the Government has allocated nearly $50 Million to fight fraud over the new few years and created a new college to improve oversight of immigration consultants and crack down on criminals.
What kind of fraud should newcomers or new immigrants to Canada watch out for?
- Phone call from people posing as staff/employee of Government of Canada. Please remember that IRCC will never contact you over the phone to collect fees or fines, to deport you, to threaten or harm you, ask for your financial information most esp. credit card information or send police to arrest you for unpaid processing fees. If you receive this suspicious call, ask for the name of the person calling and then hang up and report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
- Phone call asking you to pay your taxes or asking you to pay for taxes that you owed from Canada Revenue Agency or CRA. If you want to confirm the call, you can call 1-800-959-8281. If the call wasn’t real, report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and if you have lost money to a scam artist, report it to your local police.
- Fake emails asking for your credit card information or banking information or trying to convince you to invest money. Watch out for emails from people you don’t know and direct you to a website that is unsecured or asking for your personal information. Check the identity of the sender.
- Fake prizes- Wondering why you received a text, call or email that you won a prize, but you did not enter a contest, it probably is a scam.
IMMIGRATION FRAUD
APPLICANTS ARE NOT REQUIRED TO HIRE IMMIGRATION REPRESENTATIVES. IF YOU CHOOSE TO HIRE A THIRD- PARTY REPRESENTATIVE IN YOUR APPLICATION, IRCC RECOGNIZES ONLY AUTHORIZED IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP CONSULTANTS, LAWYERS OR QUEBEC NOTARIES.
Some Tips from Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (IRCC):
- Beware if you are given guarantees on processing time regarding an immigration application.
- No one can guarantee an application approval.
- Beware if the person you are considering hiring for immigration services mentions that they know someone in the Immigration Department that can help with your immigration application.
- Always check to make sure your Immigration Consultant is in good sanding on ICCRC’s online public register.
- Beware if the person you are considering hiring for immigration services demonstrates an apparent lack of knowledge when you ask specific questions about immigration or ICCRC’s Code of Professional Ethics.
- Beware if you are encouraged to lie on your immigration application.
- Do not sign blank forms or forms containing false information.
- Beware if you are not asked to sign a Use of a Representative Form (IMM 5476) or if the person you hired for immigration services signs it declaring they are a friend or family member when they are not.
- Beware if you are not asked to sign a retainer agreement.
If you have questions regarding the above article you may contact Marjorie at [email protected]
Sources: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), ICCRC, The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre
A word of caution: You should not act or rely on the information provided in this column. It is not a legal advice. To ensure your interests are protected, retain or formally seek advice from a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC) in good standing of ICCRC. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of RCIC’s.
