Canada’s financial intelligence agency says criminal groups are increasingly using young international students from India to help carry out extortion schemes aimed at South Asian communities across the country. In a new special bulletin, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, known as Fintrac, says the activity has grown into a co-ordinated and persistent threat, with business owners in several provinces facing demands for large payments, intimidation, gunfire and arson.
Extortion cases linked to South Asian communities have intensified in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, according to the bulletin. Fintrac says the pattern has shifted from isolated threats to what it describes as a “sustained campaign of coercion” involving cross-border provincial co-ordination, violence and financial pressure.
Extortion targets include retail, transportation, construction, real estate and hospitality businesses, especially small and medium-sized operators. Victims often receive anonymous calls or messages demanding payments that range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions.
Fintrac tracks suspected money laundering and financial crime by reviewing millions of records each year from banks, credit unions, securities dealers, money service businesses, real estate brokers and casinos. The agency shares its intelligence with law enforcement and security agencies, including the RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and other police forces.
Fintrac says it has already produced more than 100 financial intelligence disclosures tied to extortion in 2026, more than the total from the previous two years combined. Those disclosures identified more than 300 subjects and involved over 63,000 financial transactions.
The agency says several organized crime groups appear to be involved, including the Bishnoi and Bambiha gangs.
“Notably, reporting submitted to Fintrac indicates the possibility of copycat actors leveraging the weight associated with these crime groups to maximize their own impact,” the bulletin says.
Fintrac says these crime groups appear to recruit or depend on people already in Canada, often “financially vulnerable, young male Indian nationals” studying on permits, to move money or work as enforcers.
The bulletin says suspicious transaction reports show people linked to violent extortion handling email money transfers, cheques and cash deposits “in volumes and values inconsistent with their reported status, for example, as international students.”
Victims may be pushed into making email transfers, cash deliveries, cheque payments or cryptocurrency transactions. While demands often reach into the millions, Fintrac says actual payments are often far smaller, ranging from hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands.
“It implies that victims probably negotiate with extortionists for payouts to be more realistic or manageable,” the bulletin says. “High-value payments may be substituted for ‘financing plans’ that pay enforcers smaller amounts over a set period.”
Fintrac says people tied to these cases may be between 17 and 28 years old, hold Indian passports, identify as international students and study at colleges more often than universities. They may use aliases, pseudonyms or “rapper” stage names, make unexplained deposits at multiple branches or ATMs, and quickly send money to unknown third parties.
The agency also says these individuals may book hotels, short-term rentals, travel, gas and fast food in regions where South Asian communities have been targeted, sometimes far from their schools.
Addressing the threat “requires early reporting and strong institutional vigilance,” Fintrac says.
“Continued efforts are also needed to reduce the stigma and fear that prevent victims from seeking help. These are factors that offenders increasingly rely on to maintain their influence and avoid detection.”
