This is the somewhat absurd story partially cleared up by the Department of Health and Social Services in collaboration with members of the Collège Supérieur de Montréal (CSM).
The facility in question? The Lyudas Hospital, which would have housed interns in medical secretarial work, according to internship reports consulted by Radio-Canada.
In this area of northern Montreal, just steps from the Rivière des Prairies and the real Albert-Prévost Mental Health Hospital, CSM students would have seen patients and made appointments.
Everything seems real on paper. Reportedly, Lyudas Hospital was founded in 2003 and specializes in gynecology, in vitro fertilization and pediatric services. The facility has a website with eye-catching illustrations and lots of information that at first glance seems trustworthy.
Even the Google search engine lists their address and opening hours. And the LinkedIn page specializing in professional relationships lists an official at Lyudas Hospital whom we were unable to reach.
Because in reality none of this is true.
After receiving the information over the phone, the MSSS conducted an inspection visit to verify whether the Lyudas Hospital existed or not. During this inspection, we found that there was no building at the address mentioned, explains Noémie Vanheuverzwijn, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS).
“Nobody knows about the existence of this hospital. »
– A quote from Noémie Vanheuverzwijn, spokeswoman for the MSSS
Quebec was warned by an employee at the Collège Supérieur de Montréal, the institution attended by the students guilty of the deception. He also contacted Radio-Canada, claiming he had not been heard by his management.
The director of the CSM, a subsidized private facility that offers short-term training, ensures he has proactively communicated with Quebec and the City of Montreal to terminate this non-existent facility effective September 2022.
“We immediately banned it [le Lyudas Hospital] and the corresponding courses were canceled immediately. »
— A quote from Noureddine Hajibi, director of the Collège Supérieur de Montréal
We attach great importance to the validity of these internships as the integrity of the education we provide and the reputation of the college are at stake. […] The company has excellent relationships with the professional community, which continually employs our graduates to meet their staffing needs, Noureddine Hajibi said in a written statement to Radio-Canada.
How many fake internships have been completed? The institution claims it can’t share exact numbers and vows to do everything possible to verify that students are actually completing their internships.
Google only stopped listing Lyudas Hospital after a series of questions Radio-Canada had sent to CSM College and Quebec over the past few days. The site has been blocked.
“This did not happen at the request of the MSSS,” emphasizes Noémie Vanheuverzwijn.
Lyudas Hospital said it specialized in gynecology. But similar pages were also found on other pages.
Photo: Screenshot
A network of fake websites orchestrated from Africa
Before the blocking, the Lyudas Hospital website had several elements that led to the assumption that it was part of a network of fraudulent websites.
In the website’s HTML code, we could see several references to a hospital in the UK called Corbyn Hospital, including a link to his website. This website no longer exists, but several negative reviews found on the web suggest that this is a fake hospital used for fake job postings.
The alleged photos of Lyudas Hospital on its website led us to another fake hospital, Memorial Hospital, which is said to be in California and Texas and whose location is identical to Lyudas.
Using DomainTools analysis tool, we were able to find about 20 other websites related to Memorial Hospital, including several other fake hospitals, fake law firms, fake banks, and fake companies. package delivery. Another website that is part of this network claims to offer Canadian work and study visas. Its Facebook page states that the company is based in Nigeria.
In addition, a website listing anti-African scams contains several references to websites that are part of this network. It is explained that these websites steal money from victims by offering fake job offers abroad in return for payment.
CSM College students said they completed their internship at the Pierre-Boucher Health and Social Services Center in Longueuil. Which wasn’t true.
Photo: Radio Canada / Martin Thibault
According to the college, these are rare scams
Other international students enrolled at CSM College have attempted fictional internships.
The director of the university admits that several attempts at fraud were thwarted by our services. We have increased our vigilance and taken action to ban certain establishments.
For example, an irregularity was discovered at the CISSS de la Montérégie-Est, he confirms.
A few months ago, two students tried to pretend they had completed their training at the Pierre Boucher Hospital, according to the health institute. “We received a request for review from a CSM College staff member who no longer works for them,” said Caroline Doucet, spokeswoman for CISSS.
It states that CISSS has insisted to the university on the importance of validating internship requests with the Department of University Education and Research, as is the case with all institutions.
However, there was no real internship file from the Collège CSM in Pierre-Boucher.
The CSM College, in turn, swears by a strict verification process.
“Despite our careful checks, it cannot be entirely ruled out that some of the graduates of each year managed to evade our supervision and break the rules,” Noureddine Hajibi continues. However, such cases would be rare and it is important to emphasize that the CSM in no way condoned, permitted, participated in or abetted such a situation.