Conman’s Canadian victims speak out after conviction
Fraudster Joel Balfour came to Bermuda with an impressive CV in Canada’s IT industry.News of his conviction prompted Canadian residents to contact this newspaper with stories of their own.After pleading guilty to obtaining property by deception, Balfour was given a six-month suspended sentence in Magistrates’ Court.Devastated Jamaican national Albert Ricketts was conned out of nearly $15,000 by Balfour, who fabricated e-mails from a fictitious immigration lawyer in Canada.The scheme unravelled in April after Mr Ricketts took his suspicions to police.“He has scammed people in Trinidad, the UK and Canada,” Mr Ricketts claimed after the sentence. “This is the first time he has been caught.”Assisted by a family member, Mr Ricketts said he hoped others would come forward to pursue legal action against Balfour.One immigrant, who said he received Canadian citizenship this year, told The Royal Gazette he fell victim to Balfour through “exactly the same situation as Albert Ricketts”.“Only difference is that I was in Canada on a work permit,” he added.Although the man said he was legally residing in Canada at the time, he claimed Balfour tempted him by pretending to be friends with an immigration officer in the UK.He said Balfour told him his contact could supply a referral that would lead “directly to citizenship”.The man told this newspaper he initially paid $12,500, and was tricked into “lending” a further $20,000 a few months later, after Balfour claimed his immigration contact was in “deep trouble” and unable to follow up the case.Describing Balfour as “a con artist”, he added: “I have received my immigration in Canada by applying myself as a skilled worker in 2008 and citizenship in 2012.“Joel wasted my two years and scammed $32,500 and caused hell lot of trouble in my life.”Another alleged victim living in Canada requested not to be identified in this article.She said a mutual friend introduced her to Balfour, who was employed for IT company Symantec and worked on the side as a computer repairman.An article in The Royal Gazette last year cited references Bell Canada and Cisco Systems as past employers.“He came to my house to fix my computer and from then a friendship began, which lead to courtship,” she said. “Sadly I did not know at the time I was just his other victim. He had many women and he did not tell me.”She added that Balfour “could not be honest if he wanted to”, but that he seemed “genuine and caring” at first.“My relationship with Mr Balfour was like all the other women if they care to be truthful to themselves dishonest [and] untruthful,” she wrote. “He is dubious, cunning, unscrupulous and the list goes on.“He wanted the finest things in life, and would do anything to obtain it.”She said she joined Balfour after he was posted to Amsterdam by Symantec Canada.“At the time I was OK with our arrangement as he led me to believe he travelled a lot for his company,” she wrote. “Very shortly I knew something was not right.”The woman said Balfour “constantly had money problems”, and she paid credit card bills for him. If pressured he would “disappear for weeks”.Nonetheless, the two got engaged, and when Balfour was transferred to the UK, “he asked me and my two children to join him in England to be a family”.“I was very reluctant because of the problems we had in the past with his many women and money problems.”She eventually joined him there and became pregnant but soon found “the same Joel, only worse”, and returned to Canada in 2000 to have her child.Balfour was able to maintain a sporadic relationship with her and occasionally borrowed money, up until 2007.Without proof of the loans she was unable to get restitution through the small claims court, and never received any money for child support.“There are many, many more victims but maybe scared to come forward,” she told this newspaper.She said Balfour returned to Canada, married another woman, and took up work for Cisco Systems.Although now remarried and “doing extremely well”, she said Balfour had taken advantage of her young age at the time, and called him “a rotten person and a deadbeat father”.She added: “My advice to others would be don’t just get involved with a person, do your homework and learn as much as you can before you get in involved with someone.“We live in a time were this can be done, we have computers. Do good and good will come back to you.”
A fraudster who conned a guest worker out of $14,346 by pretending to be an immigration lawyer was handed a suspended prison sentence, and ordered to pay his victim back.
Joel Balfour, a Trinidadian IT worker, told Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner: “This has set me back in my life. I have lost my job, but I was able to come up with 90 percent of the financing.”
As his victim looked on, the 42-year-old told Magistrates’ Court that he could pay back $13,000 that same day.
Noting that the fraud caused Jamaican guest worker Albert Ricketts “great mental stress, as well as the loss of his savings”, Crown counsel Geoffrey Faiella suggested an immediate custodial sentence of nine to 12 months.
The court heard earlier that Balfour created a nonexistent Canadian immigration lawyer named Patrick Ferguson.
Using that name, he took payments from Mr Ricketts from November 2011 until April of this year, when he was arrested.
Mr Ricketts had hoped to obtain work in Canada and move his family there.
Asked by Mr Warner how he imagined he could have obtained a Canadian visa, Balfour said: “I didn’t think I could. I would try.”
He added: “This is something I was just going to try and see what I could do. In the process, I misused his friendship ... I talked to him and convinced him.”
Apologising to the court, Balfour said: “This is something that just came over me. I was going through some hardship.”
Mr Warner said: “One of the matters I must consider is who is to blame. We know that scams, in particular immigration scams, a lot of them come about because people who want to emigrate think that they can buy immigration clearance on the side. In short, they are knowingly participating in obtaining status by outside means.”
Observing that Mr Ricketts must have known that Balfour was not a lawyer, Mr Warner said he did not believe Balfour had misused a legitimate position of trust.
He imposed a sentence of six months’ imprisonment, to be suspended for 24 months. Though the offence carries no mandatory sentence, there is a maximum penalty of five years in jail.
Balfour was further ordered to repay the $13,000 immediately, and the balance within three months.
Mr Warner also remarked that since Balfour has lost his job, “he will probably be dealt with by Immigration”.
Asked afterwards how Balfour had managed to persuade him that he could secure necessary paperwork, Mr Ricketts said: “He’s a sweet tongue, a sweet talker.”
He said the friend who had introduced them was currently back in Jamaica, also under the misapprehension that he would be receiving immigration papers from Balfour.
Mr Ricketts, accompanied by a family member, added that he was obtaining evidence from others in Canada and the UK who had also fallen victim to Balfour.
“His mission is to go after immigrants,” Mr Ricketts told
The Royal Gazette. “He portrays himself like a good man, but he is a professional con artist. This has been happening over 25 years.”Although relieved to have most of his money returned, the former construction worker, who was left destitute by the deception, said he hoped Balfour’s case could be reopened when others came forward with evidence.
