Travel agent jailed after pleading guilty to charge
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A travel agent, Bayo Oluwatobi, has been sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment for scamming a client of N1.5 million under the pretext of arranging visa for him to go to France.
Kaduna Chief Magistrate Ibrahim Emmanuel convicted Oluwatobi after he pleaded guilty to the charge levelled against him by Frank Raymond.
Raymond had laid a complaint that Oluwatobi fraudulently obtained N1.5 million from him under the pretext of obtaining a French visa and flight ticket for him.
The convict failed to deliver the ticket to enable Raymond to travel as planned.
Prosecution counsel Chidi Leo, an Inspector of Police, told the court the offence contravened Sections 314 and 287 of the Penal Code of Kaduna State 2017.
The court ordered Oluwatobi to pay N1.5 million as compensation to Raymond and sentenced him to 10 months’ imprisonment with the option of N20,000 fine.
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Two other recent cases of scam
Suleiman Farouq, a 33-year-old civil servant, was arraigned in the same Magistrates’ Court in May for allegedly defrauding 15 job seekers of N3.2 million, per reporting by Nairametrics.
Farouq promised to secure jobs for them after claiming to be an agent for the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service.
He convinced the job seekers to pay N213,000 each to help secure employment for them, but he never got them jobs and did not refund their money.
Also earlier this year, the lid was blown on an American who allegedly defrauded two Nigerians of $368,698 under the pretext of procuring them Green Cards.
Marco Ramirez was arraigned in court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a nine-count charge of obtaining money under false pretenses.
Warning against falling victim to visa scam
The Canadian government says there are many commercial or private websites that offer immigration or citizenship services.
Some promote legitimate representatives’ services that you will need to pay for. Others will offer false guarantees to take your money or steal your private information.
A website might be a fake or a scam if:
- you are asked to pay to access application forms and guides. IRCC [Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada] only charges fees to process your application.
- Forms and guides are free on the IRCC website.
- the website offers special, too good to be true immigration deals, or guarantees entry into Canada, high-paying jobs or faster processing of your application.
- it looks like an official Government of Canada site but it is only in one language and does not have the Canada.ca URL or a URL that ends with “.gc.ca.”
- you must provide personal information, financial information or make a deposit before you even start the application process.
- there is no padlock in the browser window or https:// at the beginning of the web address to show it is a secure site. Even if the site appears secure, be cautious.
- the website was advertised in an email from a stranger that you did not ask for.
- you cannot reach anyone listed in the website’s contact information, or the website has no contact information.
- the company’s or representative’s credentials cannot be found on the site. Paid representatives have to be authorized.
- This means they are a member in good standing of the designated body for their group.