With a letter of admission to a Quebec University in hand, Aminata flew from Benin, Western Africa, Montreal with $ 2,000 in her pocket to fulfill her dream of following higher education in Canada.
In 2022, he had connected with a man who, according to her, positioned himself as a consultant who could process his documents and submit his university and immigration requests.
But not long after landing in Montreal and went to Chicoutimi, who., He realized that everything was a scam.
She had not been accepted at the university. She didn’t have a scholarship. His immigration documents were fraudulent and were based on a falsified acceptance letter.
“My dream became a nightmare,” Aminata said.
CBC is using a pseudonym to protect its identity because, due to its counterfeit immigration documents, it has no legal status in Canada.
Requesting his hands while sitting in his apartment in Chicautimi, almost two years after the test, Beninois, 30, still does not feel seated or safe.
“I am living with the fear that at any time I can be deported,” he said. “This is not a life.”
Aminata does not want to return home now, saying that she would have to “start completely” in Benin.
Aminata was not the only victim of the scam. CBC News has spoken with another woman who says that the same man who appeared as a consultant took her money after being hired to submit her university requests.
According to an expert, this type of fraud is becoming common, but future students in Africa are among those who are led by stoves in large quantities.
‘I gave all my money’
For Aminata, it all started when he came into contact with the consultant through his uncle. She said the couple agreed $ 4,000 before the agent’s price rose.
“I gave him all my money,” he said, adding that he totaled around $ 7,000 at the end.
She sent the required documents: her birth certificate and her diplomas. In a few months, they sent an email an acceptance letter in the Master’s Management Program in the organization at the University of Québec à Chicautimi.
She says that the man also managed to get him the QUBEC acceptance certificate (CAQ) – The mandatory document that allows international students to request a study permit.
Although he considered postponing his acceptance of staying in Benin to save money, he says that the agent, who is also Benin and studied in Chicautimi, pressed it to reserve flights and start the school immediately.
“He asked me not to worry. [That] Everything is under control, “he said.
But something was wrong. He arrived in Montreal on August 28, 2023, and in a few days, the entire scheme was unraveled.
Two women who came from Western Africa to study in Quebec say they discovered after they arrived that the letters of acceptance of the university agreed for a consultant, on which their immigration documents were based, were fraudulent.
She says the consultant suddenly informed her that she was deferring her acceptance. A boy from Chicoutimi in which he trusted his situation told Aminata that he needed to go to the administration to resolve his student status.
She says that the consultant did not respond to her calls, but when she finally led him to the line, he became defensive, began to shout and told him not to give school the documentation and the acceptance letter he provided.
“They told me that they feel they have scammed me,” he recalled that the school administration said, adding that he discovered that his real application file was open but incomplete. She says the consultant had presented fraudulent paperwork.
“That day, I felt this is not true,” he said.
Another victim, the same story
Fatim only realized that he was the victim of a scam after seeing Aminata’s story in a Radio-Canada report.
“His story was the same as mine,” said Fatim, who traveled to Quebec from Benin in July 2023.
CBC News is also using a pseudonym to protect your identity due to your concerns about your immigration state.
He arrived with the intention of starting the university in Chicautimi after receiving a letter of admission and documentation from the same consultant as Aminata.
Upon arriving, he says that the consultant abandoned her despite the promises of helping her to differ her acceptance.
“I didn’t know it was fraud, but he had felt that something was not normal,” said Fatim, who says he still feels overwhelmed and “imprisoned” for his situation.
His father, who was responsible for connecting with the consultant, sent him thousands of dollars to help ensure university requests, even selling a property to pay it.
Knowing the effort and money he put in helping her, Fatim says he tried to avoid the truth after his education failed.
“One day my dad said: ‘My girl, tell me what is really happening?'” Fatim said. “I remember it as if it were yesterday.”
She said that once her father discovered what happened, her health worsened.
“He felt responsible for putting his daughter in trouble without even knowing.”
He died in December 2024, and Fatim could not return home.
Although he considered returning to Benin with his family and husband, whom he has not seen in almost two years, says he wants to build a life for herself in Canada and demonstrate to Canada’s immigration that this really was not her fault.
She says that the agent had previously told her that she could request asylum in Canada to ensure her immigration status, a step that said she didn’t feel good. She says she didn’t want to abuse Canada’s system.
Fatim recalled having told the consultant: “I want another way to get out of this disaster in which you have put me.”
CBC News contacted the man who, according to Aminata and Fatim, cheated them. In a brief phone call, he denied accusations that he is an agent that helps people submit applications to the university. He also denied having made money.
CBC has not been able to communicate with him for monitoring questions or an interview. Your number has been deactivated since then.
Dozens of fraudulent admission letters
As things are, victims of immigration fraud often have little resource, says Richard Kurland, immigration lawyer and policy analyst based in Vancouver.
He says that it is also more difficult for people to make their diligence due because they are less familiar with the Canadian university system.
“The communication infrastructure is not the same,” he said. “And literally some people have sold the farm to get to Canada to study. Now those are tragedies.”
In his career, he says that scams for foreign immigration study permits have become as “common as Vancouver’s rain.”
The University of Québec à Chicautimi (UQAC) says that the registrar’s office identified 44 cases of fraudulent admission letters between June and December 2023.
Although most of the people who received these cards did not appear on the campus, 12 did, a University spokesman said in a statement sent by email.
In cases where people appeared on the campus with a CAQ document and a study permit obtained through the counterfeit letter, UQAC says they took the “necessary precautions to advise the authorities.”
UQAC says that several calls were made to the Ministry of Immigration, Francization and Integration of Quebec to question the validity of the CAQ paperwork obtained by these students.
In a statement sent by email, the Ministry told CBC that in recent years, the admission letters contained in “irregular” and “non -authentic” parts have been detected in several files.
“Although these situations remain marginal in relation to the general volume of processed applications, they are rigorously monitored,” reads the statement.
The Ministry also confirmed that to act as an immigration consultant, the government must recognize an individual as such. When an immigration consultant obtains this recognition, his name is entered into the Immigration consultants record.
The name of the consultant that both women used is not part of the list of the province.
1,550 requests for study permit linked to fraud
In 2023, immigration, refugees and citizenship of Canada (IRCC) announced that investigations discovered almost 1,550 requests for study permits were linked to fraudulent acceptance letters. This number also includes those detected two or three years earlier, he says.
These applications were intended for Designated learning institutions (DLIS) – A school approved by a provincial or territorial government to organize international students, read the statement.
“In most cases, fraud was detected and subsequent requests were rejected,” he said.
IRCC says that the verification process for acceptance letters requires that DLIS verify the authenticity of all letters.
To date, the improved verification system of the acceptance letter has intercepted more than 10,000 potentially fraudulent acceptance letters, says IRCC.
‘No one is doing anything’
Both Fatim and Aminata have blocked the consultant’s number and are being represented by the same lawyer in their attempt to find a solution for their cases and advance.
Aminata says that when she was first informed about the scam, she told UQAC that the agent who falsified her acceptance was a student. UQAC confirmed to Radio-Canada that he was expelled from his university program.
Aminata requested the University again, contacted Prime Minister, the Federal Minister of Imigration, Provincial politicians, the Anti-Frude Service and the Local Police.
“After that, there was a silence,” he said.
The Saguenay police confirmed to Radio-Canadá that they could not face the Aminata archive because the fraud occurred abroad. In a statement sent by email, he says that “the victim was referred to his local police embassy and force.”
“They asked me to speak and I spoke and nobody is doing anything,” said Aminata.
“I still have that little light … I hope things change.”
