Why did we move? Is more justification needed? 🤣

Living abroad is great, but like everything else there are risks involved and precautions you must take. Moving abroad can make you a target of fraud. Especially identity theft and immigration fraud, which is rising in response to immigration laws tightening around the world.

I’m by no means perfect or even close to it, but it would be ridiculous to not acknowledge that I have a very good profile that’s been shaped over the course of my life. People without any future and no respect for anything would be quick to seize or damage that profile for their own ends. But birds of a feather flock together, these lowlifes are usually surrounded by people just like themselves, so of course they will NOT target people in their group for this type of fraud because their own people are likely to have a future just as bleak as their own.

After having my personal information stolen in New York, I was given the following advice from a lawyer. In terms of preventative measures, make sure that you know what is happening with your information, lock down your profile (financial or otherwise), and do your due diligence to make sure what is happening with your information. For example, Canadians and Americans can check if any fraudulent sponsorships have been filed in their name via IRCC and USCIS.

USCIS checks your social media to verify any information that might be found in such a sponsorship application. Which makes it critical that you have VERIFIED social media accounts that a third party can review.

So make sure you have credible social media, like my Google Scholar account which has been verified, linked to my institutional credentials, and is linked to this blog.

Make sure important status information such as general location and marital status is clearly stated in your profile. In my case the following is true.

I AM NOT MARRIED, HAVE NEVER BEEN MARRIED, AND HAVE NOT SPONSORED ANY IMMIGRANTS FOR IMMIGRATION TO MY COUNTRY OF CITIZENSHIP OR ANY OTHER COUNTRY.

I do have a boyfriend and he is a natural born citizen of an EU country. While I’m open to meeting people from around the world, I currently have no close ties or friendships with non-citizens living in North America and neither does my family.

Expats, please make critical information as such crystal clear in your social media or wherever immigration officials will be searching such information.

If you suspect you are a target of immigration fraud start by searching which agencies that can verify your record and the status of any immigration applications.

Stay safe.