WARNING: Scam Ahead

Does $9,200 Canada Dollars as a monthly pay sound good? How about Hazard/Inconveniences: $860 .00 (Monthly), Car Maintenance: $600.00 (Monthly), House & Furnishings: $3,500 (Yearly), Entertainment & Recreation: 750.00 (Monthly) and Travel & Events: $950.00 (Monthly) in addition? Not bad, huh? Oh yeah, and a work permit for Canada taken care by a Diplomat Attaché, currently in India on assignment, in 7 business days.

Well, stop dreaming, folks. Sorry to pope the bubble, as the above is an excerpt from an Agreement Letter in a fraud case I’ve been investigating recently.

No platforms, no sites, no social networks are safe from scammers anymore. I won’t mention romance scammers this time, only job-related scams. Meta aka Facebook especially is known for them. Posts appear hourly. Sadly enough, Meta administration advises, those posts don’t go against Community Standards, and refuses to delete them when reported. Imagine, people put comments: I am interested. Out of Desperation? Naivety? Greed? Blind trust for printed words? I think, ignorance.

This time a scam I’ve come across originated from LinkedIn.

A message came:

First thing I did was to check if the company existed. It does! Their team handles everything from asphalt repairs for residential homeowners to commercial paving on huge lots, in Winnipeg, MB, Canada. Are paving specialists in dear need for 250 University graduates? That I was going to find out.

A resume was sent to indicated email address. The real company’s email address has @jcpaving.com, not @jc-paving.com. I mastered a fake resume pretending to be an accountant from a small city in Russia. Actually, I was torn, whether to create a resume of a nuclear scientist or of an orthopedic surgeon, but settled on accounting resume.

The reply came in two days, signed by a Dr. Chris Anthony, Human Resources, with phone number that has Alberta (another Canadian province) area code. The real company doesn’t have a branch in Alberta. I was asked “to fill in the attached file to this email and give brief but concise and intelligent answers to our preliminary interview questions, this is an important criterion in our overall final selection.”

In the attached form there was a company’s logo, a copy of the real company's.

While I was filling in my intelligent answers I kept thinking, what a Dr would be doing in HR department of a paving company. Shoot, I should have gone with a neurosurgeon’s resume, just to keep even with a Dr in HR.

All was well. The form filled in, a Russian passport stolen online, done, sent. A copy of Diploma had been asked for too, but I made an excuse and asked to give me few days. I didn’t Photoshop it yet!!

Next, came a contract form for me to sign, listing all those wonderful amounts I already demonstrated at the beginning of the article. And concluded with this statement : “This Letter of Contract shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of Canadian.” Brrrr.

There were also instructions on further steps. Company will pay accomodations and air tickets for myself and my 5 dependants. All I am to pay is visa processing fee as “all foreigners must pay for their visa fee why we reimburse them when they resume their duty.”

“Your file will be sent to our Canada visa attached officer who has been assigned to us by the Canadian Immigration Visa Home Office Canada. He is currently in India on a diplomatic assignment, he will help you and process your Canada visa/work permit at Canada Embassy New Delhi India and send it to you once completed. “

Have you noticed India been mentioned? That’s where scammers are located. That’s where my payment for visa will be going.

The signed contract, Photoshoped Diploma sent. Waiting for the next email from Dr HR.

And it came without delays. With more instructions, to “contact Diplomat William Gardenll Boucher at Canadian Embassy India, he is the Diplomat Attaché in charge of all foreign applicant visas, he represents a higher percentage of expatriate status with employees relations to this procedure, he will help you and process your Canada visa and send to you and also schedule an appointment with you for your Bio-Metric and 10 finger scans in your country.” Awesome, all fingers covered.

I signed the attached Appointment Letter and returned it right away. As well as contacted the Diplomat, asking to provide the next steps using the provided email address: [email protected].

In ONE minute, there was another email from Dr HR, with a request to forward a copy of my signed Appointment Letter to Diplomat. Excuse me? How would Dr HR know, I forgot to attach the copy for Diplomat? The answer, it’s the same person, Dr HR and Diplomat.

Here it came, the swift reply from Diplomat William. After I submitted the required documents, I was to pay “Registration, processing and handling charge is $540 US Dollars which is र44,677. Rupees Equivalent (THIS FEE IS FOR REGISTRATION, PROCESSING AND HANDLING CHARGES). This fee is a consideration commitment for your visa Application form so that you will be recognized by the Canada visa Authorities and it MUST be paid by you as the name appears in the appointment letter and completed Visa Application Form.” “Please Note: This fee is to be paid by you to any of the Authorized Account Officers who will then pay it to the embassy on your behalf and send you your receipt for future reference because the applicant is to pay visa Registration, processing and handling fee through agents by consulate order.”

That’s all? I was anticipating amount in thousands USD. Paid to an Officer? Of course. That would be Dr HR aka Diplomat.

The process of obtaining a work permit takes about 5 months from the day of application in fact, not 7 business days as Diplomat advised. All fees are paid online, $155 CAD for Work permit (including extensions) per person , for example. The application would be processed by a regional immigration office, not by a special assigned officer, let alone a Diplomat. A Canadian employer must have LMIA approved with government to be able to hire a foreigner. There wasn’t a word about LMIA license in this case.

Folks, do the research and a thorough check on work permit application process, on average salaries in the field, on companies offering the employment to foreigners. Huge unreal salary amounts are flashed with intent to lure and take job seekers’ attention off any contradictions and inconsistencies that are always present in fraud. Too many people fall victims to job related fraud, way too many.

Be safe.