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An Nguyen worked two jobs, seven days a week for two years – saving up money for her future and for courses to improve her English.
But in the blink of an eye, it was all gone.
Nguyen, who is originally from Vietnam and has lived in Whitehorse for the last two years, says her ordeal began in January when she tried to pay for a study course and materials ahead of her Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program exam (CELPIP), which is offered through a company called Paragon. The Canadian government reviews CELPIP test results when making immigration decisions.
She says scammers posing as Paragon accepted her payment, along with additional fees they said were required.
Then, she said, people posing as bank representatives got in touch asking for more details — including her banking information – and requiring more fees, in order to investigate what they said was a recent scam.
“They were convincing, professional, and [had] detailed knowledge of my personal and financial information… including details related to my CELPIP purchase,” said Nguyen. “Desperate to recover what I had already lost, I wanted to believe them.