Immigration Fraud

Immigration Fraud

 

Avoid Fraud

In 2013, a British Colombian man was able to pull off one of Canada’s most profitable immigration frauds to date. Due to the fraud, 1,200 clients of this unlicensed British Colombian “lawyer” are now facing scrutiny and are open to investigation after they were all falsely represented.

 

In fact hundreds of his clients were actually pretending to live in Canada, often times at his multi-million dollar home, in order to meet the residency requirements to be granted permanent residency; all the while most of these individuals had never even visited Canada. The individuals that did pretend to live in Canada are now facing deportation orders. The hundreds of individuals that simply were misrepresented by this individual may be losing their citizenship or permanent residency as well. Sadly the representative most likely doesn’t even care about the hundreds of individuals lives that he has affected because over $10M was collected from this particular scam.

 

It is important to note that not only was this individual able to con his way into millions of illegitimate legal fees but he made thousands of his clients lose their status here in Canada, and many of the individuals even faced legal repercussions for being falsely represented. That is why it is very important to make sure you understand who is representing you and what their qualifications are, in order to avoid being a victim of fraud.

 

How to Identify fraud

If you believe that you have been a victim of fraud or are in a situation where you may become a potential victim of immigration fraud, then you are more than entitled to report it. Reporting fraud not only protects you, but also protects anyone else who the individual may try to scam in the future. It is important that before reporting any kind of fraud, to first establish what fraudulent activity is, in regard to immigration, so that you have a better understanding of what exactly the fraud was in hopes to better report the incident to the correct. There is more than one type of fraud which could include, but is not limited to:

• Suspicious activity at the border
• A marriage of convenience
• An individual who is giving false information regarding an immigration related application
• An individual wanted on an immigration warrant
• An individual pretending to be a certified immigration representative
• An individual taking money from people without being a licensed lawyer

 

How to report fraud

As previously stated, it is very important to identify and understand the type of fraud that you have either been a victim of, or feel as if you may become a potential victim of in order to properly report it. This is because there are so many different places to report the incident each with their own individual purpose. For example, if you are wishing to report citizenship fraud then you must call the Call centre if the incident occurred within Canada and the Canadian visa office if the incident occurred outside of Canada.

 

Will Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada call my phone asking for personal information such as my credit card information

No, they wont. Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada looks to ensure your privacy and will never collect money from you, over the phone. Instead you can make your payments by mailing in the application or by filing the application online. If anyone posing as immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada calls you and asks for money please ask for the name and number of the agent and call the call centre to confirm the agent’s identity.

 

Will Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada threaten me with deportation, arrest or loss of status

No, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada would never enroll individuals who work for immigration to contact you over the phone or online requesting money. If you have received a call from someone who says their from immigration, but you believe that they may not in fact be an immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada representative, then please call the police right away and explain to them your situation; as in Canada fraud of any sort is not tolerated.

 

How can akrami & Associates help

Please know that this is not a blog written with the intent to scare individuals looking to resolve their immigration related matters, however, it is a warning for individuals to look for a respectable and trusted immigration firm, such as Akrami & Associates when hiring a legal representative so that you can ensure that you are not apart of an immigration related scam.

 

Collectively, our team of licensed representatives have worked on more than 15,000 cases involving virtually all immigration issues and because of not only our excellent track record, but because of our commitment to the client we can ensure that you will be able to solve your immigration related programs with the help of our firm behind you.

 

We hope that this blog was helpful and has assured you that you can report any fraud committed against you. Akrami & Associates is a place where you are able to tell us confidentially about any fraud that you may have been involved in; in regard to immigration. We are also a firm that is able to assist you in getting back on track when it comes to your immigration related matter. If you have been a victim of a scam and wish to hire an authorized representative to solve your immigration related issue, or if you need help in anyway reporting fraudulent immigration related activity then please call us today at 416 – 477 – 2545 and we can help you today!

 

At Akrami & Associates there is always a way !!