HOAX: This website announcing job opportunities in Canada is fake | by PesaCheck | Jan, 2023

The opportunities are shared on a fake website with no connection to the Canadian government.

This link, being circulated in WhatsApp groups inviting applications for the “Visa Sponsorship Jobs in Canada” programme, is a HOAX.

Once a user clicks on the link, a page with a text headlined “ Job and Visa sponsorship application Canada 2023/2024” appears. The text states that both skilled and unskilled people are being recruited.

A form, where an applicant is expected to ink personal details, including country of origin, mobile phone number and the job applied for is attached. A drop-down of optional jobs is also given where applicants are supposed to make a selection.

Once that information is provided, including one’s current employment and marital status, another page appears indicating that the applicant has been approved to work in Canada in 2022, not 2023 as the initial advert shows.

Also, instead of offering guidance on how to apply for the visa, the applicant is asked to share the link with other WhatsApp users. The Visa form page will not load if the link is not shared, the advert warns. This is typical of phishing scams, where one’s personal information is taken but the purported offer is never given.

PesaCheck searched the web to establish whether this programme was announced on credible Canadian government online platforms, but the results were negative.

PesaCheck has looked into a link being circulated in WhatsApp groups inviting people to apply for Canadian visas through a sponsorship programme for jobs and finds it to be a HOAX.

This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.

By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.

Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.

This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker Flavia Nassaka and PesaCheck Senior Copy Editor Cédrick Irakoze and acting Chief Copy Editor Francis Mwaniki.

The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Doreen Wainainah.

PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.

PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.