Four arrested over Canadian Visa scam in India

Harvinder Singh, 40, is accused of sending random SMSs to mobile users in Punjab saying their Canadian Visa had been approved and those who replied were told to pay a large sum of money. After the money was paid Singh and his three aides Pawan Kumar, 40, Harish Kumar, 41, and Anil Arora, 57 would disappear without providing a visa.

The alleged scam came to light after Mandeep Singh, a resident of Jalandhar in Punjab, made a complaint February 4 saying that he had struck a deal with Harvinder Singh, for a Canadian Work Visa.

In the complaint, he stated that he had already paid an instalment and had given his passport for Canadian Visa, with the remaining amount to be paid after he got the visa.

However, Harvinder Singh delayed delivery of his passport and asked him to bring the remaining cash for the passport or else he would destroy it.  Police have recovered the passport, which contains a fake Canadian visa, and other forged documents.

Police estimate the four have cheated between 12-15 people.

The Canadian Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people make their Canadan Visa application to the Canadian Embassy.