{"id":133200,"date":"2026-07-17T14:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/133200\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T14:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:14:10","slug":"canada-fraud-case-exposes-acute-sector-integrity-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/133200\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada fraud case exposes “acute” sector integrity issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) last week laid 12 criminal charges<\/a> against two individuals, alleged to have taken over CA$126,000 from international students, falsely promising the funds would go towards\u00a0tuition fees.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The investigation began in February 2025 after a tip from Lambton College, Ontario. It\u00a0emerged\u00a0victims were provided with fraudulent enrolment documents but were never enrolled in the college programs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThose seeking to profit from fraudulent financial schemes are being held to account and brought to justice,\u201d said Canadian minister of public safety, Gary\u00a0Anandasangaree, adding CBSA was \u201cprotecting vulnerable individuals\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both individuals were charged with four counts of fraud, four counts of misrepresentation and of knowingly passing off forged documents.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the accused\u00a0appeared in court on July 10, while the other is believed to have fled the country and is wanted on an arrest warrant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neither the institutions nor the government is doing enough to tackle\u00a0wrong doing\u00a0in the sector<\/p>\n

Gautham Kolluri, RCIC<\/p>\n

The case highlighting continuing integrity issues in the Canadian sector and beyond, despite\u00a0efforts from the government to crack down on fraud and exploitation of the student route.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFraud was a major driver in the implementation of the 2024 reforms that limited the number of international students in Canada,\u201d Fragomen partner Jack Kim told\u00a0The PIE News.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following the study permit caps<\/a>, the government also introduced provincial attestation letters<\/a>. \u201cRelated to direct evidence that certain international students were being admitted to Canada on fraudulent admission letters, working longer hours than authorised, or even not going to school at all,\u201d said\u00a0Kim.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He emphasised instances of wrongdoing\u00a0likely constituted\u00a0a \u201csmall percentage\u201d of student activity in Canada.\u00a0But Kim said\u00a0integrity\u00a0issues\u00a0remained an \u201cacute concern\u201d for the government,\u00a0citing reports of organised crime elements, such as the\u00a0Bishnoi gang<\/a>,\u00a0exploiting the international student pathway.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other stakeholders say the problem of unregulated subagents recruiting students is so widespread \u2013 in Canada and beyond \u2013 that it is difficult for\u00a0prospective\u00a0international students to\u00a0differentiate\u00a0genuine\u00a0consultants\u00a0from scammers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more than 30,000 unregulated subagents in Canada, India and other countries recruiting prospective international\u00a0students\u00a0through edtech aggregators,\u201d\u00a0regulated\u00a0Canadian\u00a0immigration\u00a0consultant (RCIC), Gautham Kolluri, told\u00a0The\u00a0PIE.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said such cases have been \u201chappening for decades\u201d,\u00a0not just in Canada but across other top destinations and traditional sending countries.\u00a0\u201cThis is not just scamming students but has grown into a very complex human trafficking chain.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since 2024, Canada\u2019s international student population has\u00a0shrunk significantly<\/a>, following\u00a0extensive government measures to curb inbound flows of students, driven by\u00a0public concerns<\/a>\u00a0about immigration and reports of unethical student recruitment\u00a0practices.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Canada\u2019s Auditor General issued a\u00a0damming verdict<\/a>\u00a0on the\u00a0IRCC\u2019s failure to\u00a0properly manage\u00a0inbound international mobility, laying out\u00a0an extensive set of\u00a0recommendations<\/a>\u00a0for policymakers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Kolluri said, \u201cneither institutions nor\u00a0the government is doing\u00a0enough\u00a0to tackle\u00a0wrong doing\u00a0in the sector\u201d\u00a0calling for\u00a0a stronger clamp down on unregulated subagents.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) last week laid 12 criminal charges against two individuals, alleged to have taken…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,8466],"class_list":["post-133200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-fraud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}