So far this year, 2,167 Mexicans have filed complaints with Canada’s Refugee Protection Division against companies that defrauded them by offering them work in the northern country. The number is more than double the number recorded in 2024, when 1,020 complaints were filed.
One of the victims of fraud is Manuel, who worked as a sales manager for Bimbo, one of Mexico’s largest multinational companies. He says he wasn’t doing too badly financially, but he was robbed three times while transferring company money. Faced with the insecurity and fear of even losing his life—after being beaten by the assailants on one occasion—he decided to look for another, more secure job.
In his search, he found Canada Life, a company that advertised itself as a job recruitment agency in the northern country.
In an interview with El Sol de México, Manuel, originally from Iztapalapa, said that the alleged recruitment agency asked him for 90,000 pesos to handle all the paperwork, including issuing his passport, his travel ticket, his stay in Canada, and the job opportunity.
He explains that the first thing Canada Life did was send him all the information about life and working in Canada “to get him excited.” Then they asked him where he wanted to go and presented him with three options: Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. He said he chose Toronto because they told him it would be easier to find Spanish-speaking people there, as well as better job opportunities.
However, once he arrived in Canada in June 2024, he was transferred to a house where 25 other people, also deceived by the alleged agency, lived crammed into a house. Manuel said they deducted $125 a week for their stay, almost half of their salary, and they were practically held hostage, since they were only allowed to go out to work.
After a few weeks, the Mexicans were able to contact the Mexican Embassy in Canada, which helped them leave their homes. Manuel found formal employment in the northern country and remains there to this day.
Canada Life appears online as an international recruitment agency with more than 20 branches in Mexico, most of them in states with high levels of poverty, violence, and migration, such as Hidalgo, Michoacán, and the State of Mexico.
In 2023, this company was sued by 129 people from Tulancingo, Hidalgo, whom it defrauded with false job promises.
I agreed to give them what they asked for because I needed work; they painted everything in pretty colors and even told me it was the opportunity of a lifetime. Manuel
According to Manuel, one of Canada Life’s modus operandi is that they don’t accept wire transfers or deposits; everything is done in cash so they can’t be tracked. Furthermore, they ask that all communication with them be erased, arguing that upon arrival in Canada, authorities can check cell phones and if they find information about jobs, they will almost certainly be barred from entering the country.
Jesus Hernandez, an immigration consultant, explained that scammers are using increasingly sophisticated tactics to exploit the hopes of Mexicans seeking a better life in Canada. He also asserts that they are currently taking advantage of US President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance policy to deceive Mexicans. “Today, there is great fear among millions of Mexicans who are being expelled from the United States and who also cannot return to Mexico,” Hernandez stated.
In an interview from Toronto, the expert explained that the most common scams include fake job offers, fraud related to studies, as well as investment fraud, refugee-related fraud, fake marriages, and online scams.
The Canadian Embassy in Mexico City has warned about this crime and issued a series of recommendations to avoid falling prey to fraudsters. “If the offer seems too good to be true, it is very likely a fraud,” the diplomatic mission states.
Source: oem
