Canadian Visa Scam Lands Three Suspects in Court

(Three Suspects. Photo by Vanguard News)

An anti-graft agency has charged three people in court over a visa scam scheme.

The suspects Emmanuel Serah Motunrayo, Awotunde Olugbenga, and Idowu Olugbemi Sunday were taken before a judge in Ibadan on accusations of forging documents and defrauding people who wanted Canadian visas.

Motunrayo and Olugbenga face 47 charges together, accused of stealing about N23.4 million from victims.

The agency says they pretended to be immigration agents based in Abuja and promised to arrange Canadian visas and travel for their clients.

After taking money over N12 million from one person and more than N11 million from another they never delivered the visas and documents they promised.

Beyond that, the agency claims the two men created fake Canadian visa papers and showed them to their victims as if they were real.

In one instance, they allegedly collected N527,000 from someone after claiming they could get him a genuine visa and airplane ticket.

They even forged a visa supposedly dated June 20, 2025, with an official-looking document number.

Both men told the court they were not guilty of any of the charges.

The anti-graft agency's lawyer asked the judge to keep them locked up while the case continues, but their lawyer argued that bail applications had already been submitted and requested they be released on bail.

The judge ordered them held at a correctional facility in Ibadan and scheduled the bail hearing for August 26.

The third suspect, Sunday, faced separate charges involving about N6.65 million taken from another victim between mid-2025 and early 2026.

He similarly promised to secure Canadian visas for the man and his family but failed to do so. Sunday also pleaded not guilty.

Like the others, he was remanded in custody with a bail hearing set for the same date.