5 Scams New Canadian Immigrants Need to Know About

Canada is a welcoming nation that is home to various communities. The different groups that inhabit Canada live in harmony. However, the country still contains numerous scammers who attempt to take advantage of vulnerable and uninformed individuals.

Written & reviewed by Keshav Sharma, RCIC #R530203, Founder, ELAAR Immigration Consulting Inc.Last reviewed: October 20265 min read

If you are moving to Canada in the near future, you should familiarize yourself with these five scams.

• Tax Frauds
• Refund Scams
• Phishing Scams
• Immigration Scams
• Computer Virus Scams

Tax fraud scams are some of the most common types of scams that target immigrants and other types of new Canadians. These scammers typically call their intended victims or send them text messages informing them that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is investigating them for tax fraud.

They then proceed to ask their immigrant victim for sensitive personal information such as their date of birth or social insurance number. They may also ask them to transfer funds to them through online banking.

You can protect yourself from such tax fraud scams by remembering that the CRA typically contacts individuals by calling them directly and that they never ask for personal information or bank information over the phone.

Learn more about CRA Scam Alerts on the IRCC’s official website.

Refund scams are different from tax fraud scams because they sound less threatening. Scammers typically contact their victims over the phone or via email and inform them they are eligible for a government benefit refund.

People who respond to these scammers are usually asked to provide bank information for the purpose of accepting the refund payment. Once the scammer has your bank information, they may misuse it to extort money from you in the future.

You can avoid falling for such refund scams by remembering that the Canadian Government does not ask for sensitive bank information over email or the phone.

Phishing scams are run by scammers posing as legitimate organizations. For example, a scammer may call you pretending to be from your bank. They may ask you to verify an issue with your online banking account by sending you a link to a login page. However, this login page is usually a fake one designed to steal login credentials.

The scammer may then steal money from your online banking account once they have this information. You can protect yourself from such phishing scams by being wary of any individual who sends you login pages that do not appear to be from the organization’s official website.

New immigrants may also receive calls from people pretending to be Canadian immigration officers. These scammers tell their victims that they have unknowingly broken the law and that they must pay a fine to avoid being jailed or deported. They generally ask the victim to pay this fine over the phone using prepaid credit cards or using a private money transfer service.

You can verify if a call is from a legitimate immigration officer by asking them their name and then contacting Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada’s official call center. IRCC will then inform you if the call was legitimate or whether it was fraudulent.

Some scammers may contact you over the phone pretending to be tech experts. Such scammers typically tell their victims their computer has been infected by a virus and that it may disable their device.

The scammer then attempts to convince their victim to purchase a special anti-virus software or to give them remote access to the device to clear the virus. These options scam victims out of money or sensitive information. You can avoid such scams simply by hanging up the call and taking your computer to a trusted tech professional for a checkup.

New immigrants should be careful to avoid each of the different types of scams mentioned above. However, the truth is that scammers are always looking for new ways to fool their victims. A smart strategy is to always remain wary about giving your bank information or personal details to anyone you do not know until you have verified their identity.

New immigrants who would like to learn more about adjusting to life in Canada should contact Elaar Immigration. Our exceptional team of Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants has helped numerous immigrants settle in Canada and can offer guidance related to different settlement matters. Please contact our premier immigration consultants in Surrey, BC, to ensure your transition to your new life in Canada goes smoothly.