The Canada Border Services Agency has laid 12 criminal charges against two individuals, alleged to have taken over CA$126,000 from international students, falsely promising the funds would go towards tuition fees.
The investigation began in February 2025 after a tip from Lambton College, Ontario, and it emerged that victims were provided with fraudulent enrolment documents but were never enrolled in the college programs.
Both individuals were charged with four counts of fraud, four counts of misrepresentation, and of knowingly passing off forged documents.
One of the accused appeared in court on July 10, while the other is believed to have fled the country and is wanted on an arrest warrant.
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Canadian minister of public safety, Gary Anandasangaree, said, “Those seeking to profit from fraudulent financial schemes are being held to account and brought to justice,” adding that the agency was protecting vulnerable individuals.
Jack Kim, a partner at Fragomen, noted that fraud was a major driver in the implementation of the 2024 reforms that limited the number of international students in Canada.
Following the study permit caps, the government also introduced provincial attestation letters, which Kim said were related to direct evidence that certain international students were being admitted to Canada on fraudulent admission letters, working longer hours than authorized, or even not going to school at all.
Kim emphasized that instances of wrongdoing likely constituted a small percentage of student activity in Canada, but said that integrity issues remained an acute concern for the government, citing reports of organized crime elements, such as the Bishnoi gang, exploiting the international student pathway.
Gautham Kolluri, a regulated Canadian immigration consultant, said, “There are more than 30,000 unregulated subagents in Canada, India, and other countries recruiting prospective international students through edtech aggregators”.
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Kolluri added that such cases have been happening for decades, not just in Canada but across other top destinations and traditional sending countries, and that this is not just scamming students but has grown into a complex human trafficking chain.
Since 2024, Canada’s international student population has shrunk significantly, following extensive government measures to curb inbound flows of students, driven by public concerns about immigration and reports of unethical student recruitment practices.
Earlier this year, Canada’s Auditor General issued a verdict on the IRCC’s failure to properly manage inbound international mobility, laying out recommendations for policymakers.
Kolluri said, “neither institutions nor the government is doing enough to tackle wrongdoing in the sector”, calling for a stronger clampdown on unregulated subagents, and citing the need for more effective regulation to prevent such cases in the future.
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