Are you keen in getting the cherished and much sought after Permanent Residence (PR) in Canada, using the popular Ontario Immigrant Nominee Programme (ONIP)? If yes, you need to be on your guard. Even if you are not a candidate, you need to read this news and follow the instructions, and be ‘on the safer side’.

As per some available reports and information, pouring in from some very reliable sources, some members of the society have been getting e-mails with a fake Ontario Certificate of Nomination affixed, demanding a “Right of Permanent Residence Fee” (RPRF).

Such certificates carry the Government of Ontario Logo & the address of 400 University Avenue in Toronto.

You can easily notice the fake activity, via these highly noticeable markers:

1. The concerned visa and immigration authorities, involved with the OINP, will never mail you any sort of Certificate of Nomination. Yes, you will never obtain either a confirmation letter or nomination certificate from the OINP, in case you have not submitted an application under the scheme, and do not have a petition pending!
2. The contact telephone and fax number on the certificate have a 708 area code. It’s anything but an area code employed in Ontario even while it’s not linked to the OINP in any manner whatsoever.
3. The bogus nomination certificate mentions the CIC Visa Office when the Canadian Federal Administration has already changed the name of the organization that deals with Canadian immigration, and named it the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
4. Under no situation whatsoever you will ever be asked to shell-out a fee to the OINP, via a wire transfer, and you will never be asked to cough-up ‘Right of Permanent Residence Fee’. Candidates to the OINP give a one-time upfront administration charge to the scheme, via the online arrangement, and do not give money for a nomination certificate when and in case the same is given. The OINP or for that matter any other Canadian Immigration Scheme will never get in touch with you via phone or e-mail, and ask you to give a fee.

What to Do When You Get Such Call or Mail for Payment?

Instantly forward the details to the OINP at [email protected]. Also, never give out personal details, like for instance, account numbers, the maiden name of your mother, passwords or other recognizing facts in reply to the uncalled-for e-mails or calls. And, to bring any sort of fraud case to the notice of the concerned officials, get in touch with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre by telephone at 1-888-495-8501, or via their website: http://www.antifraudcentre-centreanitfraude.ca.

Be alert, lest you are taken for a ride and robbed of your hard-earned money by the impostors promising you PR in Canada when in some of the cases you may not have even asked for it in the first place!