As a job requirement I need to pay a utility bill in Toronto. I will be moving here from the United States in a few months and I am in town for just a few days. Nothing untoward or illegal. I will pay your utility bill for 6 months for your trouble. Need to set it up in my name. Please contact. Don’t need or want any of your personal information. Will answer all questions and provide all documents for your verification. Thanks for your help.
I know that utility bills can sometimes be used as proof of ID. But I think he said he wants it in his own name. Whats going on here?
On the surface, it appears he needs to have proof of residence in Toronto for employment/immigration/whatever purpose, so he is offering to pay your utilities if you have it transferred to his name.
I would be very wary of doing something like this because a) it is fraudulent and b) if he doesn’t pay, you are the one who will be living in the house with the electricity/gas/phone/whatever shut off.
oh believe me, I have no interest in having this person pay anything of mine. I just happened to come across the posting and found it more original than the traditional tricks and cons.
I’m not saying he’s trying to get a credit report, just citing this as one of many possibilities. On the form for requesting a free credit report from Equifax, it says:
I’m sure many other places request similar things from newcomers to prove residency.
Probably not a scam per se. Sounds like his employer can’t justify to HRSDC why it should bring in a foreign worker on a work permit, and so if the employee wants the job he’s got to enter on his own. Paying a bill or having a residence scores you more points on the immigration qualification exam. Once you’re in legally, it doesn’t matter what Human Resources Canada says; you can take the job. Whether the employer is complicit or not is unknown. If there’s a scam, it’s against the government of Canada.
On the other hand, maybe he’s already got the process rolling to get his work permit, but wants to have an established Canadian credit rating by time he gets here. That may be valuable if he’s planning on sticking around for a long time. (I wish I’d done this so that I don’t get dinged with a 3% conversion fee every time I use my credit card.) If this is the case, then this probably isn’t even an ethical problem – he’s paying a bill for services/products. Hell, if I were Canadian I’d look into it a bit further and have him pay my gas bill for six months. It’s not like you don’t have any means to see if he’s not paying.
Getting an offshore bank account in say, the Isle of man or Jersey requires that you prove you are a real person and not some fake dude, all to do with anti money laundering legislation. The banks have a ‘know your client’ obligation. They will accept passports but also need proof of residence, usually requiring last 3 or 4 moths utility bills in the applicants name.
Also if you are opening an offshore account and you are not from the USA or Europe the bank may require a substantial (60K USD in the situation I recently looked at) minimum balance.
So the guy may be trying to set up an offshore account to either wash some filthy lucre, or just a place to get his own cash out of his country and avoid some high opening account restrictions.
It should be noted this guy has money, He is willing to pay your utility bill, in winter. Whatever benefit he is getting, is worth a chunk of money to him. Sounds like an expensive way to get a credit rating.
Once again do not mistake the above for informed opinion.
Possible scam, but I think it stands a chance of being the residency thing.
My mom (a dual Canadian/UK citizen AFAIK) tried to open a UK bank account the last time she was overseas (for pension or other reasons). She was refused, and one possible way around it would have been for her to somehow pay one of her sisters utility bills and bring in the bill.
Ended up just not bothering, but it certainly seemed the easiest way around silly restrictions.