RCMP warn of phone scam targeting and threatening immigrants

The RCMP iswarning of an ongoing phone scam by people posing as immigration officials who demand additional fees and sometimes threaten the children of victims.

CBC News reported on the phone scam last month, when a Toronto woman almost became the victim of the scam.

She received a callfrom someone claiming to be an immigration official demanding payment ofa $2,500 fine.

RCMPinvestigators have now created an example of the kind ofphone call scammers have been using,based on the questions and threats police haveheard about from victims who have reported the scam.

• Phone scammers target newcomers to Canada, pretending to be immigration officials

Investigatorssay the fraudstersnormally identifythemselves with an anglophone name, which is in contrast totheir strong accent.

The callers then tellthe victims something has changedwith their immigration case and additional fees are required.

The imposter then begins to ask for personal information like the target'sfull name, address, the number of people in thehome, occupation,andpassport number.

In the example, the scammerclaimsthe victim did not disclose something about his or herwork situation and tells the target to pay$12,000.

Thevictimquestions the claim, and then police say the imposter generally gets irritated and starts to aggressivelythreaten the target.

Investigators say those threats could include them being arrested, deported, and separated from children.

The fraudster then tries to get thetarget to immediately go to a money transferring service like Western Union or MoneyGram.

Ifvictims questionthe caller's legitimacy more threats could follow, and if they're not scared into doing what the fraudster says, police say thefraudster usually hangs up.

The RCMPsays the scam has been used across the country and has affected men and women of different ages and cultural backgrounds.

Police urge anyone who has received such a call, or knows someone who has, to report it.

The RCMP also advises that potential victimsfollow the steps below if they suspect they're receiving an immigration scam call:

• If they have call display, note the number and where the call came from
• Hang up
• Look up the real number for the government agency
• Call that number too see if the situation is legitimate
• Report the call to police