HOW I GOT SCAMMED BY A CANADIAN AGENT.(PHOTO).

How I Got Scammed By A Canadian Agent. 

In 2020 after my masters in india, I wanted to immediately pursue a doctoral program so I could conduct burning research at the time. U.S.A was the least country in my mind, I didn’t want to come here. I wanted Canada at all cost. 

I immediately started looking for agents that could help. I went on Instagram and noticed a celebrity was running some advert for an agency. Boom! I concluded that since the celebrity was bold enough to advertise that means it’s a genuine agency and they would run everything for me smoothly. So I reached out to them. 

They responded and requested we start immediately. I made 450k deposit to secure admission first. After 1 week they reached out to me with admission. And just like magic I read but didn’t read the full details of the admission. I didn’t know that the admission was for an associate degree. How can a masters student be going for an associate? That itself is a red flag especially if you made it known that you have a masters. 

I blindly started rejoicing. They requested I pay 150k for the success of the admission so we could move over to the next step. I paid immediately. Next step was for me to pay for visa and co. I sent money for the visa fee (100k plus, can’t remember exactly). After paying visa fee, they told me to write my statement of purpose for the visa purpose (I did and sent). Next they told me I needed some ties so I should produce landed documents, I told him I didn’t have land at the time, I only had documents of my non-profit organization. He asked me to send those and also pay for land documents (I paid). He reached out again few hours after payments to say I needed to think of insurance or stock, that if I have shares or so it will boost my chances, he told me to buy shares from blah blah (can’t remember, one agricultural thingy or so can’t remember or an insurance company or so), I paid 150k for that. Immediately after payment he told me to think about proof of fund, he listed how much I had to pay depending on how much I would like to be in the POF account. I ended up paying 250k. 

People of Yahweh, these people used me to turn Eba 😩

After paying all these stuff he came back again with something he thought I could buy to boost my chances - I bluntly told him that I wasn’t paying anything again. They went ahead with the visa application. And after 3 months they casually sent me a pdf that contained a rejection paper. They told me that they didn’t think I showed sufficient proof blah blah. I didn’t see what they filled in the application, I didn’t see the documents they submitted, I didn’t get an access to the application, nothing nothing. 

I was disorganized. I had wasted money. I went back through our chats and details and I could see all the reg flags poking at me but I couldn’t see them at the time because I was tooooo desperate, I wanted to leave india and straight to Canada from Nigeria without spending up to 6 months. I wanted it to work as I planned and mapped it out that I didn’t know I was being scammed. I looked over the so-called application letter and saw that it was even an associate degree, and I paid for a masters. Cause I told him I wanted to do second masters or a PhD. Didn’t realize it was associate degree from the onset. They lied to me, and I was too carried away to even see through everything. 

After this experience I made a resolve to myself that I’ll rather walk and dance around eke market in Enugu naked and chanting “agbado” than pay any agent a dime for application or visa. I swore by the gorns and I didn’t look back. I can wipe you oraimo if you call agent near me. 

I understand that while my experience may have been a bad one, there are people with good experiences. However, regardless of the nature of the experience I wanted to use this opportunity to say that - you see this japa journey? YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF. It is far from being a rocket science. The stuff and process anyone can claim they’ll help you actualize is the same thing you can do with a little more dedication and patience. Don’t fall victim to learn, learn from other people’s experiences. 

Forward to a year and 3 years later, I am in 🇺🇸 in second year of a PhD program, also with a 10years Canadian visa. Both I applied all by myself. 

“Some” so-called agents are actually agents of darkness and reapers. Calm down and learn the process you can do it yourself.

- Nigerian Lady, Christine Kalu