They set up a fictitious company for work visas in Canada and stole more than a million NIS

April 16, 2024   

The Tel Aviv District Fraud Unit arrested four suspects yesterday (Monday) who allegedly established a fictitious company that promised to issue work visas to Canada. The arrests were made after in recent months the Tel Aviv District Fraud Unit, together with the Serious Crime Unit of the Tax Authority, launched a covert and complex investigation, on suspicion of fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, tax offenses and forgery offenses - involving several suspects, who made false representations while promising to issue work visas to Canada. As part of the investigation, suspicion arose that the owners of the company presented themselves as service providers for issuing work visas to Canada to anyone who requested it, in exchange for a financial fee. The victims, the visa applicants, are foreign nationals. The suspects presented visa applicants with documents suspected of being forged, and presented forged certificates that authorize them to appear before the Canadian authorities for the purpose of issuing work visas. [Gallery] According to the police, the suspects worked systematically and managed to fraudulently pocket over a million shekels, all without issuing a single visa. With the transition to an open investigation, as mentioned, the four suspects in their 30s and 40s from Marg and Tel Aviv were arrested yesterday, after searches were conducted in their homes and the company's offices and digital devices and 47,000 shekels in cash were seized. At the end of the investigation, two suspects were released on restrictive conditions, and two additional suspects were brought to court this morning for a hearing, during which their detention was extended until April 18.