Photo credit: CBC
For over a decade, Jeanett Moskito has sold the Canadian dream.
CBC reports that her company’s social media account has hundreds of photos and videos of beaming foreign workers. Each of them is holding the golden ticket to building a new life in Canada – a work permit.
Moskito is neither a lawyer nor an immigrant consultant. She is a self-styled recruiter who helps newcomers find jobs in Canada through her two companies, Link4Staff and Berderald Consulting.
The Filippino woman appears as a benevolent figure, smiling and shaking hands with clients, congratulating them publicly in uplifting posts like, “This achievement was possible because of your positive thinking and trust.”
However, CBC News allegedly found that Moskito has frequently abused that trust.
A month-long investigation reveals she is one of the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s most notorious repeat offenders. She was caught 35 times taking payments from dozens of foreign workers in exchange for finding them jobs which is illegal in Canada.
Moskito’s punishment has been to pay back the money she took illegally, at least for now. She has taken a total of about $200,000. She is also expected to pay a handful of ministry-imposed $250 fines.
Seven former clients have also taken her to court alleging she charged illegal fees and refused to refund them when confronted.
Philippines consulates in Canada and Israel have even issued warnings against using her services, urging “all our kababayan (fellow citizens) to refrain from dealing with Ms Moskito and her associated entities who ask for excessive fees in exchange for fraudulent job offers.”
But the 52-year-old continues to be open for business, posting ads on the Government of Canada’s official job bank as recently as October.
Moskito did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Advocates for migrant workers, immigration lawyers and Moskito’s victims say her scheme is a perfect example of Canada’s lack of oversight when it comes to immigration representatives and its failure to protect foreign workers.
Labour lawyer John No said, “I believe that the system we have in place allows people to be exploited.
“We can’t underemphasize the emotional, mental and physical toll it has on the victims.”
11 of her former clients tell a common story: she promised them legal jobs and, often, a path to permanent residence for a fee typically ranging from $2,000 to $9,000. Some said after they paid, the jobs never materialized and Moskito eventually stopped answering their messages. others said she found them jobs, but they never received their work permit.
