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The Visa Trap That Could Cost Travelers Thousands Image: Privat
🇸🇪 Sweden /Crime & Justice

The Visa Trap That Could Cost Travelers Thousands

From Dagens Nyheter · () Swedish

Translated from Swedish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • A Swedish traveler seeking Canada’s electronic travel authorization clicked a prominent search advertisement and was asked to pay $159 instead of the official 7 Canadian dollar fee.
  • The private intermediary collected his passport and payment details, although the transaction did not go through.
  • Canada’s immigration authority urged travelers to use official government websites, and Google removed the advertisement after questions from Dagens Nyheter.

A Canadian electronic travel authorization costs 7 Canadian dollars. Ivar Hagerud nearly paid 159 U.S. dollars after a Google search led him to a private intermediary that appeared to be linked to the Canadian government.

Hagerud entered his address, phone number, email details and full passport information on the site, canadavisa.com. He said he felt like “a total fool” afterward and did not know how the information could be used.

The payment failed, but Hagerud had already provided personal, passport and card details. He contacted his card company and blocked the card, then reported the incident to police and went to a police station to cancel his passport. He had to order a new one.

Canada’s immigration authority, IRCC, warned travelers to be cautious with private websites offering help with electronic travel authorization applications. The authority advised applicants to confirm they are using the official government website before submitting personal or financial information. Google removed the advertisement after Dagens Nyheter asked about it.

Hagerud later learned from the police officer handling his case that she had experienced something similar before traveling to the United Kingdom.

a total fool

— Ivar HagerudHe described how he felt after submitting his personal and passport details to the private intermediary.
About this summary

Originally published by Dagens Nyheter in Swedish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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