Indian on Instagram teaches new Indian Migrants to Britain how to fraudulently claim disability benefits by pretending to have problems with snoring – “Sounds crazy right? It’s true” pic.twitter.com/E0pxvYqQh7
— ɖʀʊӄքǟ ӄʊռʟɛʏ 🇧🇹🇹🇩 (@kunley_drukpa) April 19, 2024
Indian immigrants in Canada and the UK have sparked fury by creating videos teaching international students and new migrants how to exploit food banks and government programs.
One video that has provoked anger shows an Indian man explaining how to collect disability benefits in the UK by claiming to suffer from snoring problems or sleep apnea.
“It sounds crazy, but it’s factual. If you snore you can claim £518 from the UK government,” he explains.
“So who pays for it? Taxes.”
Another controversial video is made by an international student in Canada, who says: “This is how I save hundreds of bucks every month in food and groceries.
“Most of the universities and colleges have food banks which are run by trusts, churches or non-profit organisations.
“You can take as much as you want.”
International student shares how to save money by getting “free food” from food banks. He says,“you can take as much as you want.”
Get these parasites out of our country. pic.twitter.com/M3BgN3CXOb
— Canadian Patriot (@PPC4Liberty) April 20, 2024
Dozens of similar videos can be found on YouTube, with titles such “FREE FOOD and GROCERY from FOOD BANK in Canada” and “How to get free food in Canada – food bank details”.
In November last year the board president of a food bank in Brampton, Ontario, said it had become so overrun with international students she was forced to ban them and put up a sign saying: “No international students! (Government regulations)”.
Catherine Rivera told the National Post she had seen students who were fully aware they were misusing the system, while others may have been misled by migration agents.
“We’re in the middle of serving families, and then you get a group of kids – you know, you can tell they’re very young students with backpacks. And they’re coming with little smiles on their faces when they say, ‘We want to get food.’,” she said.
“And we say: ‘Are you a permanent resident of Brampton?’ And they’ll say: ‘No, we’re students’.”
Furious locals responded to the videos by saying “get these parasites out of our countries” and “can’t we just get them all out of here? What benefit are we gaining?”
“Professional scam artists,” read one comment on the video about the snoring.
“The lack of integrity here in disappointing but not surprising,” another said.
One Indian resident of Calgary said the food bank exploitation video phenomenon was “eye-opening and embarrassing” and made him “absolutely ashamed”.
“This is a reminder for current international students or students from other countries that plan on coming to Canada to study. Canadian food banks ARE NOT free grocery stores!” he wrote.
“These charities are for Canadians who are in need and who are struggling for food, not international students who came here willingly just to exploit the system.”
But another Indian defended one of the food bank “how-to” videos, saying: “Do you know he is a student and has a limited budget, and he appreciates how the country looks after their less fortunate citizens.
“You can’t remove them, but you can stop the trusts which provide all this stuffs.”