4 foreigners kicked out of Canada over driveway paving scam: CBSA

Four foreign nationals are being booted out of the country for running what the Canada Border Services Agency describes as a "driveway paving scam" in Ottawa.

Ottawa police issued a warning on Sept. 20 about complaints of contractors who promised inexpensive paving work but charged a much higher price when the work was done and pressured homeowners to pay. In these cases, no contracts were signed before the work as the prices were agreed upon verbally, police said.

Police described the workers as young, white men who spoke with an Irish accent.

Four men were arrested in the case on Sept. 24, and $70,000 in cash was seized, the CBSA said. The men, who were working without permits, were charged under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the CBSA said.

CBSA spokesman Chris Kealey said the men were all from the same country but did not say which one.

The men appeared before the Immigration and Refugee Board and were ordered out of the country. One man was given a deportation order, which is a permanent ban that can only be lifted with written permission from Canadian immigration authorities. The three other men were given exclusion orders, which is a temporary ban from the country for one to two years.