After losing $7K in a scam, this newcomer to Canada has words of caution and a positive spin

A London, Ont., woman who handed over thousands of dollars to scammers hopes her story is a cautionary tale that will prevent other newcomers to Canada from being defrauded.

Saifora Ibrahim Paktiss settled in southwestern Ontario with her family in mid-December after she was forced to leave Afghanistan. She's choosing to focus on the positive reaction of those who rallied to help her family after the scam rather than on the fraudsters who ended up with her $7,000.

"I couldn't believe that something like this happened in a country like Canada, where we have heard about all the positive and good things," Paktiss told CBC News. 

"The community showed me love and affection, and they really gave me a hope for a better life. I mentioned this to my kids, that we really have to work hard and we have to be good citizens for this country who really supported us in our hard times." 

Paktiss, her husband, three kids and sister-in-law came to Canada after the Taliban took over Afghanistan. They were brought here by the Canadian government because they worked for Canadian non-governmental organizations and feared for their safety, and were staying in a south London hotel while finding a permanent place to live and figuring out their financial situation. 

"Three or four days after opening an account in the bank, a call came and it said that something had been caught on the border, there was a problem, they were calling from the border agency and they had something in my name," Paktiss said. 

"They said there are 10 to 15 bank accounts in your name, that there are many other illegal transactions made under your name. I told them, 'I'm not a culprit.' I was afraid because I really did not want to have a criminal record. I will need to live in Canada, I will need to work, to make a career, so I did not want to start with a bad name. Honestly, I was not even aware about all these scams before." 

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said extorting money from people is a common scam, and although newcomers aren't specifically targeted — scammers use auto-diallers that places thousands of calls at a time and wait for someone to pick up — they are more likely to be susceptible, because they're not familiar with government policies or the types of scams. 

"They manipulate the caller ID and it does make it very believable," said Sue Labine, who oversees the call centre that takes reports about fraudsters. 

The fraudsters kept Paktiss on the phone, got her banking information, and had her go to the bank to withdraw money before asking her to go a convenience store to put money into a bitcoin machine. After that, the money becomes unrecoverable, Labine said. 

Paktiss was then asked to go to a store to buy gift cards to make sure her credit cards worked. When the scammers asked her to start confirming her sister-in-law's banking information, she refused. 

"When I went home, I told my husband that the border agency had called me and he said it was a scam, that I have given my money to nobody." 

So far in 2022, there have been 14,200 reports of fraud to the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre. More than 3,100 people have fallen victim to scams, totalling about $18 million in lost money, Labine said. 

Paktiss spoke to the Cross Cultural Learners Centre as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross, which were helping the family with resettlement. They reported the fraud to the police and tried to get the money back from the convenience store bitcoin machine and the bank, but there was nothing they could do. The family was out more than $7,000.