During the past couple of days, a message was circulated on WhatsApp stating that the Canadian Government is recruiting people for jobs.
This message was circulated on WhatsApp with the title “CANADIAN GOVERNMENT JOB RECRUITMENT 2022” claiming that it is open to all who wish to find job opportunities in Canada.
Along with further details about the notice, a link was created for the application process.
A screenshot of the above WhatsApp message is attached below.
The link was directed to a webpage as displayed below.
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We inquired about this from the Canadian High Commission in Sri Lanka.
An official of the High Commission informed us that this WhatsApp message is a fake message.
Lately, the Canadian High Commission has updated their social media on this regard as well.
The Canadian High Commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka has established a help center to counter this kind of spam/fraud. They have posted links to the help center on their social media platforms.
As mentioned above, when we visited the link which was mentioned in the message, we were able to observe that the relevant website is also not an official website.
Conclusion: The above mentioned WhatsApp message is a fake message.
The intention of sharing and publicizing these fake links is to gather personal information from the public and to commit financial fraud.
Fraudulent people tend to publicize these links with the public and, the public tend to unknowingly share them with their relatives and friends.
It can even steal your debit and credit card information.
Money laundering is another purpose of exchanging these links.
When these types of embassies and high commissions, financial institutions,
Supermarkets, various agencies and companies, merchandise or any other programs ask for information for something, it is important to check the official website of the relevant authority or their official Facebook or other official social media accounts to verify such information. Also, information can be obtained by contacting their official telephone numbers.
It is easy to identify their official websites, social media accounts and pages.
Therefore, as soon as you see or receive a message like this, it is important to check the accuracy of these links before clicking on them. And, be mindful not to share personal information with these unknown links.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many activities such as financial services, bill payments, ordering essential goods etc. are taking place online. There is a minimum amount of information needed for all of these. If they ask for information which isn’t necessary for these purposes, it is important to be aware of those situations.
Additionally, it is important to be aware of whom we provide information to, what information is provided and whether the institutions who receive our information are registered/recognized or not.
This Fact Check is an updated version of our recent Fact Check which was first published in Sinhala Language. Here
Read our Fact Checks, Here
