Several criminal complaints have been filed in recent days by Cameroonian students in Belgium who claim they have been targeted by a scam taking advantage of their financial vulnerability.
Third-country nationals who apply for a residence permit to study in Belgium need to have a guarantor here, with — as stated by the Immigrations Office — "regular and sufficient means of subsistence for themselves, for any dependent person, and for any third-country national they are taking care of."
These resources must correspond to 120% of the amount of the social integration income granted to a person living with a dependent family, which amounts to €1,969 net per month. On top of that, the third-country national must also be able to provide €789 net per month themselves.
Some students have found themselves in precarious situations as their guarantors have struggled to consistently provide this money and have had problems producing the sum per month that they are responsible for as they work while studying.
As a result, unscrupulous scammers have begun targeting vulnerable students via social media platforms, claiming to have guarantors ready to help – for the cost of €1,000, Le Soir reported.
Told to leave
If the students can pay the money, which they are told will cover any expenses that the guarantor needs to successfully support their case, they are told that the documents they need will be sent to them in due course. After long delays, eventually documents arrive and the student takes them to the commune in the hope that the situation will soon be resolved.
However, this has resulted in the situation getting worse, as they have discovered the documents are fraudulent and the Immigration Office then informs the student that they have 15 days to make their case or face expulsion from the country and a five-year ban on entering Belgium.
This also means the students have lost the job they have which provides their part of the money needed per month, their residence permit becomes invalid and they are prevented from continuing their studies.
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So far, four Cameroonian students who have fallen for this scam and have made criminal complaints are now all in various states of insecurity in Belgium.
Three of them have had their residence permits rescinded while one has been given an order by the Immigration Office to leave the country. The lawyers that are representing them believe there are many others out there who are victims of this scam but have yet to come forward.
At the time of writing, the Immigration Office has yet to respond to the criminal complaints provided by the students via their lawyers.
