By Rachel Nduati
This link circulating on WhatsApp claims to offer Canadian work permits for people living outside Canada for a 2-year program.
The website claims to be associated with the Canadian Immigration Visa program that has apparently been distributing 85,000 work permits offered every year since 1993. Applicants are required to fill in the form and then forward it to different contacts to ensure they secure a green card or visa.
Background
To become eligible for the offer, the above phishing link demands that you fill in your personal details which include your full name, the course you’d wish to pursue in Canada, and email address.
Once you click the application button, a new tab opens where you are then required to share it to 15 contacts on WhatsApp. The intent of such links is designed to redirect you to other sites and collect personal data. Piga Firimbi has identified similar phishing links in the past that also use this form of manipulation.
Verification
While looking at the link advertising scholarships, results established that it is illegitimate.
A search on WhoIs shows that this is not the official website of the Canadian Immigration Department. Results present details of this domain as scholarshome.club, whereas that of the official Canadian Immigration Department as canada.ca.
Besides, according to a Scam Advisor search of the link, it is very likely that the advertisement is a scam. See screengrab below.
A common trend about such phishing links is restricting registrant details. In this one for instance, details of the registrant of this website are inaccessible. Canada’s Immigration Department on the other hand has all this information open to the public.
Equally, this advertisement does not appear on the Canadian’s official website nor this one which handles work permits.
Verdict
This website claiming to give away free work permits and visas is FAKE.
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