A man from Brampton has been charged with defrauding the public after allegedly creating a fake website posing as a legitimate online private school.

Peel police allege Pavanjit Sohal, 28, created a website using the name of the Canadian Higher Learning Academy, a legitimate online private school approved by the Ontario Ministry of Education.

Indi Sahi, prinicipal of Canadian Higher Learning Academy, said Sohal also allegedly used the school’s logo and information to create fake report cards.

Sahi was notified last month that there were students from Louise Arbour Secondary School who had report cards stating they completed courses from his academy. But Sahi said those students were never enrolled in courses and that report cards hadn’t been given out.

“At first I thought this was just some student trying to get ahead, but then I found out this guy (Sohal) had duplicated everything.”

He was then contacted by two more schools, Mississauga Secondary School and Castlebrooke Secondary School, that said their students had paid online for his academy’s classes and been given reports cards.

When Sahi saw the report cards, he was shocked at how much effort was put into making them look authentic.

“If you look at the report cards, you can tell there was a lot of planning that went into it. This wasn’t just a one-day operation, there was a lot of organizing that went into this.”

Sahi then contacted the Ontario Ministry of Education which later advised him to notify police.

He said he was told by police that the students were contacted by another student who had allegedly been “recruited” by Sohal.

The students were mostly in their final year of high school and needed a credit or two more to graduate. They would then allegedly reach out to Sohal to help them get it.

“What I heard from police was that these kids just had the intention of buying a report card and buying a credit.”

Sahi said he saw a phone number on the fake report cards that he didn’t recognize, so he called it pretending to be a student.

“Someone actually picked up and told me he could get me a report card and he’d get back to me with a price and then I could go pay on the website.”

Sahi believes he was speaking to Sohal.

Canadian Higher Learning Academy’s legitimate website has a “.ca” web address, but the suspect’s website was “.org,” police said. The fake website was operating for less than a year and is no longer active.

It is alleged Sohal accepted payment for courses offered on his website.

Police said they were made aware of fake report cards that were allegedly produced by the suspect and sent to the students’ high schools and the Ontario University Application Centre (OUAC) as part of the post-second application progress.

Sahi said he knows of seven confirmed students whose credits have been deemed illegitimate and will not be accepted by OUAC – jeopardizing their post-secondary education enrollment for the fall of 2017.

“I will do anything to support the students and I feel bad, but at the same time I have to question their intentions. My understanding is that some of them were tricked and they actually thought they were being enrolled in a course, and some of them knew what they were getting into.”

Sohal said Canadian Higher Learning Academy has only operated for a year and all of their classes have been online. He said the courses are about $480 each. On the school’s website there is a warning to not register for courses through a “third party.”

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It is not known how much the students paid for the fake credits.

Police said they are asking for any other victims to contact police.

Sohal was arrested on July 5 and released on a promise to appear. He will appear in court on July 31.

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