"Help Mehran start over"

Below is the statement of my very close friend, Mehran, for whom I have started this campaign.

"My name is Mehran Durrani. I am a final year Geology student at Saint Mary’s university as an International Student from Pakistan. I have been living in Halifax for the past 6 years, funding my own education by working two jobs with little time to myself, or for any recreation. I am about to narrate to you one of the most harrowing experiences of my life and how I, a nice guy pursuing an education, was defrauded of my entire life’s savings within a few hours, and a month before I was going to graduate and start life anew. I hope this can serve to maybe oneday save anyone else who’s mental and emotional state and insecurities could be taken advantage of, and possibly to help bring attention to anyone else who has suffered at the hands of scam artists. Welcome to the worst day of my life, have a safe read.

On 28th of March, 2017 Tuesday at approximately 12:28 pm, I received a call on my phone by the immigration department in Ottawa. After confirming and checking my personal details, the caller stated that I am suspected of being involved in anti-social/terrorist activities and I am currently being monitored for security purposes and “we want you to understand that we take this matter very seriously”. Meanwhile when I was talking to the person acting as my immigration officer, I got another call from a different number and I was asked to pick up the call. The person on the other line was a police officer and I checked the number on my laptop which turned out to be the number of Halifax Regional Police Department. To convince me that the call was from the immigration office, the person on the first line made me double check the number on the cic.gc.ca webpage, which indeed turned out to be true. The immigration officer (acting) mentioned that a complaint about my suspicious activities was made by someone. Having been convinced that the numbers were official and legitimate to the best of knowledge, I started to panic, even though I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. The person acting as my immigration officer then took me through the CIC webpage to make me understand what kind/severity of the situation I was in. He made sure I was following every step. He made me read the “Detention review Processes” under the “Enforcements and Violations” tab. Meanwhile I was getting a call from the same (acting) police officer who told me that I don’t have much time and an arrest warrant has been issued against me and that I’ll be detained for 48 hours unless I’d like to hire a councillor outside Canada in order to make sure that the job was done fairly, and who will review my background criminal records and clear me from this suspicion within an hour but I’d have to pay money for it which will be refunded to me if the ensuing investigation absolved me of any wrong doing.

Knowing that I hadn’t done anything wrong, I decided to go with the councillor to clear everything up as soon as possible. The person on the phone mentioned that the fee would be $2800 which you’d have to split in half and send it via moneygram through Canada Post. I should have right there suspected of this whole call as a huge scam but since I was scared and panicking and keeping in mind the legitimacy of the phone numbers I decided to go with it. I had no prior information on how the immigration system works or how do the police department go about arresting/detaining someone involved in any sort of suspicious activity. Just knowing that I would most probably get deported if I didn’t do something soon over clouded my thinking abilities. The person on the phone told me not to drop the phone call and act suspicious, you’re being monitored which made me panic even more. I rushed to the bank and cashed out $2800 which I then sent via Canada Post to two different locations. He also told me if I didn’t do it this way, sending huge sum of money would make the money transfer vendor, ie Canada Post/Moneygram - suspicious of my activity and would hold my accounts which would result in the delay of my background check and you would probably get detained. Not knowing what to do and I already in a state of extreme panic wanted to send the money as soon as possible and by any means.

After sending the money, on my way back, I ran as I was only allotted one hour of time to make all the transactions. The person on the phone asked me to slow down as I was being monitored. Knowing about that the person on the phone knew I was running put me in a state of shock. He probably heard me over the phone running but at the time I was 100% sure I was being watched. As I reached home, the person on the phone, who was still with me on the line told me that you’re background check is still in the process and since it’s night time in Pakistan, there is a delay in contacting the agencies. Meanwhile I got a call from the same guy who was pretending to be a member of the police department, told me that I have no time left and I have already allotted you more than enough time and I cannot further extend your detention. You arrest warrant which was on hold has been released unless you file for a cash bond which would allow me another 3 hours. The police officer then made me merge the call with the immigration officer. The police officer then proceeded to get into a small argument and told the immigration officer to either file for a cash bond or get him ready to be taken in custody and hung up. Knowing that I would soon be taken into custody and probably get deported and all my years of hard work would soon get destroyed, I proceeded to go with the cash bond. The immigration officer then made sure I understood what cash bond was through the CIC webpage. He then told me that I would have to take out another $2800 and send it to them via Western Union. He told me to proceed to Robie Street and deposit the money to them. After sending all the money to them the immigration officer told me that he would be on the line with me and on my way back told me that reports on my background check just came in and they’re clean which I already knew would be the case. He then also told me that an officer from the police department would be coming over to my house not in uniform by 7oClock. He would bring me refund checks and an apology letter from the government. I would have to sign a few papers and the officers would keep some of the copies. I reached home by 6:30 and was relieved to know that I am safe and the whole situation is now over. I anxiously waited for the police officer to show up but he never did. I called the police department and asked them if the police are on their way to bring me my cheques. The officer on the line said that he had no idea of any officer bringing anyone any cheques. I then asked if there was any arrest warrant issued against me, to which the officer on the line said that I don’t know and even if there was, I would not disclose that information to you and told me to go to the police station. I was dropped off at the station and I was connected to a dispatcher. Dispatcher told me to dial the non-emergency number from home and ask them send an officer to see you. At this point I realised that I  have been a victim of one of the most thought-out and biggest scam. I also realised that I just lost my entire 6 years of hard earned savings to a scam. A police officer arrived shortly after, and I proceeded to tell him all the details I could at the time and gave the officer all the numbers and reference numbers of transactions associated with the scam.

I’m sure as you can imagine, I was in a state of shock after, and couldn’t comprehend how for the life of me I of all people could fall for such a scam. It speaks to the ingenuity of scam artists and their ability to wear a person down and pick at their one and only insecurity and fear. For me as a temporary resident and immigrant, that fear was the fear of being wrongly accused of a crime, being maligned for my religious orientation and being persecuted for being Pakistani. 
 
I would like to thank all the beautiful Nova Scotians, both immigrant and non-immigrant alike, for their unequivocal support during this trying time. Without your support I don’t think I would have been able to reset my life to Day 1."