The emergence of visa scam in Cameroon requires the intervention of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and consuls. Some travel agencies claim to be in partnership with embassies, assure the issuance of visas within six months. When the service is not successful and the visa not granted, they flee to another country for refuge.
Cameroonians are being trafficked in other African countries, some given passports of other countries to transit to Europe before seeking asylum. Dreams and opportunities have been breached by these criminals, who most at times provide fraudulent documents like bank statements, fake flight tickets and fake visa, and the consequences are both emotional and financial.
A task-force needs to be created to crack-down these criminals, who believe they can extort Cameroonians and seek refuge in other African countries and in Europe to avoid prosecution. The government should review the issuance of license to these agencies, regular inspections and audit are essential in policing travel agencies. A task-force should also be created in order to re-inforce the Central African Banking Commission (COBAC) regulation and the National Agency for Financial Investigation (ANIF) in policing such crimes and apprehending suspects, thereby restricting access to their bank accounts and tracking cryptocurrency payment in all countries in collaboration of the Interpol.
With regard to fake visa, the government in cooperation with diplomats should provide red notice of suspected operating these traveling agencies engage in this scheme to Interpol, Europol and FBI, so they should be crack-down, extradited for prosecution, and reimbursement of victims if funds are available in national and off-shore bank accounts.
More so, victims need simple and safe channel to report fraud. Law enforcement officers often tasked to investigate non-conventional crimes at the local level, most at times are not well equipped. Complaint form must be in the two official languages and the investigator’s mastery of the two official languages will ease communication with complainants.
Public awareness is a necessary path in policing non-conventional crimes. Victims are usually convinced via WhatsApp, Facebook and TikTok, but high profile criminals make use of local television channels to advertise their agency, service and share testimonies (videos and pictures) of their clients abroad and others prepared to board a flight. In as much as, public awareness and campaigns are necessary, its essential to note that some of the victims attest that, the process at traveling agencies are tedious, and agents help them fill forms (registration form), process all documents (police clearance, bank statement and biometric identification schedule) and retain the login password, so the client does not know the progress from the immigration office and if the visa has been denied.
The government, civil society organizations and consuls should organize symposiums to discuss on visa processing and create a platform to verify visa endorsement, since most at times the agents request for the passport of their clients for the visa to be issued in other countries. The government should provide a list of clandestine traveling agencies, work with international and regional security organizations to crack-down all criminals defrauding Cameroonians and seeking refuge in Europe.
When citizens are defrauded and the government is silent, then peace and security is under threat. When embassies fail to provide support to victims even after biometric identification, then they sense of synergy and reputation are not more essential. For there is always an insider spilling information and pressing the enter key to validate a crime.
