Internet fraud:

Gatineau hosts a fake conference?

Foreigners and Canadians alike are being invited to Gatineau to participate in a leadership conference that does not seem to exist except on the internet.

To attend the “Canadian Conference for the International Leadership”, guests are asked to pay the accountant Thibaut Bidossessi Kindjinou 587$ USD via Western Union or MoneyGram to attend. Both these companies are often used by people who transfer money overseas.

The advertising appears to target foreigners since it indicates that by paying the fee, the hosts will take full charge of the guests’ entry to Canada. This is alluring for those who require a visa to enter the country.

The conference’s website holds photos, sponsor names, and many promises. At first glance, the website looks legitimate, but the devil is especially in the e-details.

The landing page claims the conference is designed for groups in education, environmental protection and economic development, and that it will attract hundreds of NGO’s from across the globe.

The conference is scheduled to take place in the “Gatineau Southwest”, January 26 to February 4. The Bulletin was unable to find the Gatineau Southwest.

The group hosting the conference has a president named Professor John Williams with an office at 130 Albert Street, Gatineau. There does not appear to be an Albert Street in Gatineau. The telephone number on the website is in the 418 code which covers Quebec City. The Bulletin called the number but no one answered, and, after many rings, an automated message reported, “The Magicjack customer you have called is unavailable.”

Magicjack’s own website explains “this device uses Voice Over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) to allow the user to make local and long-distance calls to the U.S. and Canada via an existing internet connection” using either a computer or a regular telephone. Gatineau police report no complaints about this “conference” to date.