High Commission of India

Ottawa

***

Consular Advisory on Fake Calls

1. An increasing incidence of fake calls, purportedly made at the behest of the High Commission of India (HCI) has come to notice, when the caller tries to elicit personal information from an Indian national or person-of-Indian-origin (PIO).  It is also learnt that some callers have claimed to be representing Canadian immigration authorities.
2. At the outset it is reiterated that these are malicious calls. HCI does NOT seek personal information of any kind on phone, in this fashion.

3. Such callers often spoof a certain telephone number to make it appear legitimate. It is easy to establish the fraudulent call by calling back on the indicated number.

4. These fraudsters either seek personal information like Passport No., Date of Birth, date of obtaining Canadian PR, date of entry into Canada, etc. or try to extort money from Indian nationals by claiming that there are errors in their passports, visa forms, immigration forms etc. which could be rectified by paying money, and warning that the so called errors, if not rectified, could result in deportation of the individual to India or their imprisonment in Canada.

5. The High Commission of India is in regular touch with Canadian authorities on the matter.

6. The High Commission of India hereby advises members of the public not to entertain such suspicious telephone calls made in the name of High Commission of India. They are also advised not to reveal any personal information or transfer any money in response to such calls. In case anyone has already fallen prey to such scams, the matter should immediately be reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (1-888-495-8501) and the nearest police station with all details. 

The information shared by Government of Canada with regard to Caller ID Spoofing is also helpful. It can be seen at the link below :

https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/phone/telemarketing/identit.htm

7. Your safety and well-being is of paramount importance to us.

Ottawa

4^th March, 2020

*****