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F.Y. and I have become very good friends after we met at the Chinese School. She immediately included me as an additional family member. Since then, whenever she needs help and her children are not around to assist her, she would just call me up. I remember when I first met her, she used to be terrified of driving on her own on the highway. She had to rely on her oldest teenaged son to be the driver, which made her life really difficult. Who can count on a hormone-raging teenager to stay home all day long to take his mom places? Of course not! Her son wanted to go out with his friends to do those typical teenager things most of the time. I don’t blame him.
One day, we planned to visit a friend who lived in the next town. I had never been to this friend’s house. F.Y. was supposed to be the driver to take both of us there. It took us forever to get there because she took a long route around the city instead of the highway. She was terrified to drive on the highway you see. I told her that I would sit beside her to coach her on the way back. There was no way that I would let her take the city roads again. So, she had to take the highway for the first time in Canada. Well, we did get home safely, but she was completely soaked with sweat when we arrived! After that day, FY was not afraid of getting onto the highway anymore.
One day, I was telling F.Y. about the RRSP that I invested for my retirement pension. She suddenly asked me if I could take a look at a few letters she received. Those letters were sent by the company where she invested her money in order to immigrate to Canada. She then started telling me her immigration experience. I was in awe.
F.Y., like many investment immigrants, went to those investment seminars for immigration in Taiwan. Those seminars usually are set up by Taiwanese immigration consulting companies along with investment funds companies from Canada. In order to have her children educated in Canada, she decided to take the easiest route for her, to invest money in Canadian funds and apply for investment immigration. According to the regulation then, she had to invest certain amount of Canadian dollars. I am not sure how much exactly the amount should be invested to qualify for investment immigration to Canada, but I do know that she purchased 250,000 Canadian dollars worth of funds alone from this particular company from Saskatoon, Canada.
I looked at the letters sent to her from the company in Saskatoon. The address on the letterhead was only a mailbox address, which was alarming to me. A reputable company would not be based on a mailbox address. I tried to call the company, but it was only an answering machine, another alarming sign. I asked F.Y. whether she had received an annual statement from this company every year or not. Apparently, the company did send out the annual statement to F.Y., one of many shareholders, and a letter to inform her about their loss in a few bad investments. Their share prices have been in decline, and the company has been in deep financial trouble.
By the time she showed me her letters and the statement, the shares had become penny shares, which worth nothing at all. I told her that she should be in touch with a lawyer to go after the company. She did, but it cost money to hire a lawyer, too. She already lost so much money. There is really no point to spend more money on litigation. I asked her why she did not check out the company before she invested. She replied that most immigrants relied on the consultants to give them information about Canada. She simply believed that the company recommended by the consultants must be legit. Due to the language barrier, many of the immigrants do not know how to get to the bottom to find out more information. F.Y. said she was not upset because she got exactly what she wanted, to immigrate to Canada with her three children and all of them had a great education here. She said, “Consider the loss is my donation to Canada.”
I don’t have $250,000 dollars to throw away. I know I would be so ticked off if I lost the money on some scamming investment company with a mail box address and an answering machine. Unfortunately, how many immigrants out there actually went through the same experience that F.Y. went through but did not want to reveal it. It is a shame.
Anyway, F.Y. still owns the shares. There is no point selling the penny shares. Hopefully, it is a lesson learned for many people who also have the same dream of coming to Canada and have been throwing money at immigration consultants. There are many people out there using the legitimate methods to scam your money. It is really important to do your homework and always look for a reputable financial institution when investing.
One day, we planned to visit a friend who lived in the next town. I had never been to this friend’s house. F.Y. was supposed to be the driver to take both of us there. It took us forever to get there because she took a long route around the city instead of the highway. She was terrified to drive on the highway you see. I told her that I would sit beside her to coach her on the way back. There was no way that I would let her take the city roads again. So, she had to take the highway for the first time in Canada. Well, we did get home safely, but she was completely soaked with sweat when we arrived! After that day, FY was not afraid of getting onto the highway anymore.
One day, I was telling F.Y. about the RRSP that I invested for my retirement pension. She suddenly asked me if I could take a look at a few letters she received. Those letters were sent by the company where she invested her money in order to immigrate to Canada. She then started telling me her immigration experience. I was in awe.
F.Y., like many investment immigrants, went to those investment seminars for immigration in Taiwan. Those seminars usually are set up by Taiwanese immigration consulting companies along with investment funds companies from Canada. In order to have her children educated in Canada, she decided to take the easiest route for her, to invest money in Canadian funds and apply for investment immigration. According to the regulation then, she had to invest certain amount of Canadian dollars. I am not sure how much exactly the amount should be invested to qualify for investment immigration to Canada, but I do know that she purchased 250,000 Canadian dollars worth of funds alone from this particular company from Saskatoon, Canada.
I looked at the letters sent to her from the company in Saskatoon. The address on the letterhead was only a mailbox address, which was alarming to me. A reputable company would not be based on a mailbox address. I tried to call the company, but it was only an answering machine, another alarming sign. I asked F.Y. whether she had received an annual statement from this company every year or not. Apparently, the company did send out the annual statement to F.Y., one of many shareholders, and a letter to inform her about their loss in a few bad investments. Their share prices have been in decline, and the company has been in deep financial trouble.
By the time she showed me her letters and the statement, the shares had become penny shares, which worth nothing at all. I told her that she should be in touch with a lawyer to go after the company. She did, but it cost money to hire a lawyer, too. She already lost so much money. There is really no point to spend more money on litigation. I asked her why she did not check out the company before she invested. She replied that most immigrants relied on the consultants to give them information about Canada. She simply believed that the company recommended by the consultants must be legit. Due to the language barrier, many of the immigrants do not know how to get to the bottom to find out more information. F.Y. said she was not upset because she got exactly what she wanted, to immigrate to Canada with her three children and all of them had a great education here. She said, “Consider the loss is my donation to Canada.”
I don’t have $250,000 dollars to throw away. I know I would be so ticked off if I lost the money on some scamming investment company with a mail box address and an answering machine. Unfortunately, how many immigrants out there actually went through the same experience that F.Y. went through but did not want to reveal it. It is a shame.
Anyway, F.Y. still owns the shares. There is no point selling the penny shares. Hopefully, it is a lesson learned for many people who also have the same dream of coming to Canada and have been throwing money at immigration consultants. There are many people out there using the legitimate methods to scam your money. It is really important to do your homework and always look for a reputable financial institution when investing.
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