Image: Namibia Fact Check / WhatsApp
A WhatsApp post circulating since early July 2023 claims the Canadian government is issuing 50,000 visas via a lottery
The post was forwarded to Namibia Fact Check on 6 July 2023 and looks as follows:
It’s easy to identify that this is a scam post:
- There’s no official Canadian government logo on the communication;
- The link in the post does not denote an official Canadian government website or page (which is Canada.ca, while Canadian government email addresses end with .gc.ca, with gc standing for Government of Canada);
- The post is full of grammatical errors and bad English, including randomly capitalised words in sentences or no full-stops or commas where there should be.
The link in the post clicks through to a webpage titled “Canada Visa Lottery” (image below).
According to the webpage, in order to “Apply For Visa Lottery” applicants had to complete and submit a webform on the page (image below).
Once this form has been completed another webpage opens that requires of the applicant to spam people on WhatsApp in order to qualify for the “final stage” of the “visa lottery enrollment (wrong spelling)” (image below).
On its official website, the Canadian government warns against fake websites and internet scams around visas. The Canadian government website cautions:
“Websites may claim to be official Government of Canada sites or their partners. Others may claim to offer special immigration deals or guaranteed high-paying jobs. They do this to trick people into paying them money.
Some of these sites may try to get you to give them your private information. This could be used to steal your identity.”
There is no mention or promotion of something called the “Canada Visa Lottery 2023/2024” on the official Canadian government website.
Namibian social media users are encouraged not to engage with or share / forward the “Canada Visa Lottery 2023/2024” post to other social media users.