Canada’s financial intelligence agency has issued a bulletin warning banks and other institutions to be on alert for money laundering linked to an escalating extortion campaign targeting South Asian diaspora communities, particularly in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario.

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) said in the bulletin that extortion targeting South Asian communities has evolved from sporadic threats into a sustained campaign blending intimidation, opportunistic violence, and cross-provincial coordination. Victims are frequently small and medium-sized business owners in sectors including retail, transportation, construction, real estate, and hospitality.

Extortion demands typically begin with anonymous calls or encrypted messages seeking payments ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, the bulletin said, with circumstances escalating to gunfire at homes or storefronts and, in some cases, arson when demands go unmet. Authorities across Brampton, Mississauga, and Caledon logged hundreds of extortion investigations in 2024 and 2025.

FINTRAC said the activity appears to be carried out by loosely organized criminal networks blending local actors with individuals claiming ties to overseas organized crime groups, including the Bishnoi Gang and the Bambiha Gang. The agency also flagged the possibility of copycat actors exploiting the reputations of those groups to amplify their own coercive power.

The Bishnoi Gang, led by Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, was designated by the Canadian government as a listed terrorist entity in September 2025. FINTRAC described it as a transnational criminal organization active in areas with significant diaspora communities, with activities including fraud, human trafficking, narcotics trafficking, extortion, and targeted killings. The Bambiha Gang, named after its deceased founder Davinder Bambiha, functions as a rival network involved in extortion, contract violence, and large-scale protection rackets, with coordinators based in Canada and the United States.

The networks typically recruit financially vulnerable young Indian nationals in Canada on student permits to serve as money mules, enforcers, or financial intermediaries. The groups’ money laundering methods primarily involve cash deposits at banks and ATMs, along with heavy use of email money transfers for layering funds, the agency said. 

While initial extortion demands can reach into the millions, the agency said actual payments analyzed were often in the range of hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars, suggesting victims negotiate demands down to more manageable installment arrangements.

Indicators of such schemes include young Indian men on student permits who conduct unexplained cash deposits across multiple branch locations and process high volumes of email money transfers inconsistent with their stated student status. Transactions involving India, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Kenya were also cited as potential red flags, particularly when sending or receiving parties are located in Haryana or Punjab, India.

For victims, the bulletin said warning signs include distressed customers seeking to make large cash withdrawals or wire transfers inconsistent with past behavior, who may appear to be receiving direction or coaching at the time of the transaction.

FINTRAC said it has launched an initiative called Operation TAPEX, or “Timely Analysis of Proceeds from Extortion,” to support analysis of proceeds linked to the extortion activity, and asked reporting entities to include the term #TAPEX in suspicious transaction report narratives to facilitate its disclosure process. The agency urged financial institutions to file suspicious transaction reports and said early reporting and strong institutional vigilance were essential to effective mitigation.