A silver Toyota minivan pulled into a bank parking lot in Toronto's west end. Two young Punjabi men stepped out, scanning the area for their client, a woman they had been in contact with through texts and calls. She had agreed to pay them $4,000 to be smuggled across the border into the United States. The men believed she was waiting for them inside the bank. However, no woman was there. Instead, reporters from the Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) were observing as part of a months-long investigation into a growing underground human smuggling network.

These networks openly advertise their services on major social media platforms, offering human smuggling in both directions across the Canada-U.S. border and selling seemingly fraudulent immigration visas for Canada, priced as high as $40,000. Despite a $1.3 billion federal investment in border security, which includes surveillance and drones, smugglers continue to evade Canadian immigration laws. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is on track to open a record number of human smuggling cases this year, with 70 cases reported by mid-August, averaging nearly 10 per month compared to just 2.5 per month in 2021, marking a 280 percent increase.

Asylum claims have surged by 523 percent between January and July at a border crossing south of Montreal, where online smugglers claimed they could safely transport clients. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi noted that smuggling has "gotten much worse" at the Canadian border, partly due to the activities of online criminals. Many accounts linked to smuggling and visa advertisements feature images of Indian men posing with firearms in Ontario-plated cars. One video showed a man cocking a pistol in a car, geolocated to a strip mall in Brampton.

The CBSA acknowledged the presence of international organized crime groups in Canada, stating, "Criminal organizations seek to profit from the desperation and vulnerability of others, often including people affected by geopolitics and international conflicts or crises."

Reporters analyzed hundreds of Instagram ads promoting covert passage across the Canada-U.S. border. One ad read, "Montreal to New York safe reach, no police." The IJB responded to one of these ads to arrange a meeting in the bank parking lot. Other ads promised entry to Canada by air, primarily from India, with the help of visas and direct flights. Some accounts offered both services, with one ad claiming, "Canadian business visa within 15 days DM (direct message) for more information."

Travel documents have been sold on the dark web for years, but they are now widely available on major social media platforms, reaching a vast audience. Some ads have garnered hundreds of thousands of views, and some accounts have been active for nearly two years. Meta, which owns Instagram, stated, "We prohibit human smuggling content or services on our platforms, and we remove such content when we find it." The company removed four accounts that advertised illegal immigration services after the IJB shared posts with them.

The CBSA is aware that some travelers may attempt to use fraudulent documentation to enter Canada. Officers are trained to identify such documents. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is responsible for enforcing laws at illegal entry points and is actively targeting individuals and networks profiting from online advertisements promising safe passage for illegal migrants.

However, some security experts believe federal agencies face significant challenges in stopping these illegal immigration schemes. Arne Kislenko, a national security expert and former senior immigration officer, stated, "The odds are pretty good that, most of the time, they’re going to get their way with it. They are usually ahead of the curve."

To investigate further, IJB reporters created fake social media accounts to explore pages offering illicit services. They quickly found thousands of posts, some appearing as paid advertisements on Instagram. Posing as potential clients, reporters contacted various smugglers to learn about their business models and pricing. They discovered a network of interconnected accounts offering similar services.

Becoming a client was straightforward; reporters simply texted a phone number from a social media post. Many posts included testimonials from individuals claiming to have crossed the border safely. Conversations with smugglers often occurred in Punjabi, the primary language spoken in India's Punjab region, with some in English.

Smugglers typically quoted fees of around $4,000 for safe passage across the U.S.-Canada border. In the Toronto bank parking lot encounter, the smugglers communicated using different phone numbers from various regions, promising to drive the woman to Montreal and guide her across the border into New York. Payment was to be made via bank transfer from inside the car, and the smugglers even offered to connect her with a contact in New York for job assistance.

After the car arrived, reporters covertly photographed the two men looking for the woman. When the interaction ended, the dispatcher continued to message, asking her to reconsider. In another scenario, a reporter inquired about being smuggled from New York to Canada and was instructed to take a bus to Pittsburgh, where an associate would pick them up and drive them to the border.

In a third interaction, reporters arranged to be picked up at a Toronto mall and driven to Quebec. The smuggler assured them that crossing was only possible on foot and that a group of five clients would be guided over the phone. After the reporters left the scene, one smuggler texted, "Why did you get the pictures of the car??? This is not good..." The car was registered to two men with addresses in Markham.