Visa Scam Nightmare: 75 Nigerians lose over N100m to fake Canadian visa promise

2026-03-07 - 07:07

By Our Reporter Seventy-five Nigerians are counting their losses after being scammed out of over N100 million by fake visa agents, promising them Canadian visas. The victims, desperate for a better life, sold their assets, rented out apartments, and even borrowed money to meet the N3 million to N12 million demanded by the scammers. One of the victims simply identified as Mr. Promise, allegedly paid N11 million and resigned from his job, only to realize that it was a scam. He’s not alone; many have been left with nothing, and refunds seem unlikely. Mr. Promise sold his available property and also convinced his younger brother to “utilize this golden opportunity” to relocate to Canada. A source close to him said, besides losing his job, “the man is in a dire strait as he cannot afford his children’s school fees and he is also very sick as a result of the loss of his money. He shuttles between Port Harcourt and his village just to make ends meet”. At the center of it all is Dr Nekebari Nathan Dambere, a self- acclaimed travel trainer, a medical doctor who was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, over an alleged N39.1million visa scam in Port Harcourt. When contacted, Dambere admitted that he is not a travel agent but a travel trainer. He said, “sometimes people pay money through me to the middlemen some of who are in Nigeria while others are outside the country”. He owned up to the fact that money paid through him so far “is about N100million”, adding that the agents involved are “talking of paying back the money in percentage”. He appealed that both the EFCC and the Nigeria police are working hard to ensure that the money is collected from the agents and paid back to the owners. He didn’t give a specific time frame for the refund. Dambere’s counsel, Barr Stanley Princewill said his client had started to pay back the money “until these people got so agitated and took the matter to the EFCC”. He noted that right now it is very difficult for Dambere to come out to pursue the money for fear of being re-arrested. “I feel for these people. Some of them sold their assets, some rented out their apartments. But they should also support this young man to pursue and recover the money for them. They should not frustrate the process of recovery by consistently threatening the man”, he said. He confirmed that Dr Dambere specializes in training caregivers and ascertain the health of his clients. “He facilitates to also get jobs for them in Canada and other countries of choice. He is not a travel agent”, he asserted. The anger of Dr. Dambere’s clients is that the moment he noticed that he couldn’t facilitate the visas for them as he promised, the caregiver trainer deleted the former whatsapp group he created and opened a new one to recruit more customers into the scam. So far, about 75 people are alleged to have lost millions into the deal. Dambere’s victims have decided to come together to ensure that they take every available legal means to ensure that their money is refunded. They had since petitioned the Nigeria Police, Rivers State Command, appealing for a thorough investigation into the matter and to ensure that Dr. Dambere refunds the money as quickly as practicable. Some of the victims who spoke on grounds of anonymity expressed deep concern over the possibility of getting their money back. “What I want now is my money. I don’t need his visa or documentation again. Anything that will work does not take this long”, one of them lamented. “This is not what Dr. (Dambere) told us. We were all given the impression that the whole thing would come so fast and we believed him. With his soft voice and mien posture, no one could imagine that this whole arrangement was a scam. We are about 75 people that he promised and collected money from. We sold our property to raise the money. Some of us rented out our apartments and even borrowed to pay him. I don’t trust the process again, that is why I am calling on the security agencies to help us track this man for him to pay me my money”. They alleged that Dr. Dambere has been in hiding since last year, a situation that makes it more difficult to know how and when he would pay back the money to his numerous clients whose patience is fast running out. When called for confirmation, the police public relations officer, PPRO, Rivers State Command, Grace Iringe-Koko pleaded that she be given time to check the files before making any official statement on the matter.