ROBSON: How a foreign financial crime fugitive recruited a Canadian for a malicious digital campaign

Canada has a growing security problem with criminal files that begin outside its borders and later find operational space on Canadian soil. The case of Mehdi Hijaouy shows how a wanted person can use Canada to build a digital operation, mobilize a network of online relays and collaborators, and reshape the public story around a financial crime file. When that happens, Ottawa becomes part of the environment that allows the file to expand.Hijaouy’s Criminal File Behind the CampaignMehdi Hijaouy’s case illustrates that risk. Earlier reports showed that Hijaouy was a former employee of Morocco’s external intelligence service, the General Directorate for Studies and Documentation (DGED), before he was removed from service over serious professional misconduct and later entered the world of cross-border financial fraud. He used the prestige of his former position to present himself as a man with access and influence. He then approached targets with promises of fast immigration access, lucrative real estate opportunities, or political privileges in exchange for large sums of money.The case file later revealed several documented schemes. Three Rabat businessmen were defrauded of approximately $760,000 after being promised residence permits for their families. Another file involved a diverted land operation in which roughly $1.2 million was taken with the help of a relative. A further case concerned an insurance fraud involving a luxury vehicle that had never been stolen.The same materials pointed to a wider criminal environment involving forged documents, money laundering, influence peddling, impersonation, and networks operating between Europe, Africa, and North America. In September 2024, Moroccan authorities issued an international arrest warrant on charges including aggravated fraud, criminal conspiracy, forgery and use of forged documents, and facilitation of illegal immigration. Investigations also showed that Canada was Hijaouy’s first destination as he fled justice. That first stop mattered because it gave him time to regain control of his movements and build a counter-narrative..Hijaouy’s Modus Operandi Behind the Digital CampaignA recent exclusive report based on leaked recordings and messages gives the case a new operational dimension. It details a structured relationship between Hijaouy and Hicham Jerando, a Canadian citizen of Moroccan origin based in Montreal. According to the report, Hijaouy used Jerando’s Canadian-based platforms to divert attention from the fraud complaints, victim statements, international arrest warrant, and forged passport element at the centre of his legal exposure.The report describes organized digital propaganda. Hijaouy appears as the person shaping the operation, while Jerando served as its visible broadcaster. The method was not based on verified revelations. It relied on a corrosive formula: take limited fragments of reality, such as names, official titles, institutional references, or partial context, then surround them with fabricated claims designed to create suspicion, reputational harm, and public confusion.This was the attempted politicization of a criminal file: a fraud-and-evasion case was pushed into a manufactured controversy through malicious narratives targeting Moroccan state institutions. The point was to move attention away from the financial allegations and toward sensational storylines repeated and amplified online.The campaign did not target only the DGED, although the service and some of its senior figures appeared as major targets. The material points to a broader effort against Moroccan security and intelligence institutions through videos built around insinuations, unsupported allegations, and deliberate attacks on reputations. The operation also crossed into private and family-related references, turning personal claims into tools of pressure and intimidation.Hijaouy supplied Jerando with themes and material, helped shape the narrative direction of the videos, and influenced publication timing so the campaign could maintain a steady flow of attacks. The report also refers to audiovisual preparation, graphic work, paid collaborators, and repeated dissemination through an online ecosystem designed for amplification..Hijaouy’s reported claim that he had enough material to produce thousands of videos captures the logic of the campaign. The goal was not accountability or public interest disclosure. It was to maintain pressure over time by multiplying content, mixing small factual anchors with invented claims, and turning social media into a tool of exhaustion, reputational damage, and institutional destabilization.Jerando’s Canadian Platform and Judicial RecordHicham Jerando’s Canadian record gives the file sharper significance. Canadian court decisions have confirmed defamatory online conduct, contempt proceedings, financial penalties, disobedience of judicial orders, and continued publication despite court restrictions.Jerando’s role in the Hijaouy file follows a model already tested in Canada. A Canadian citizen with a history of sanctioned online defamation became useful to a fugitive former intelligence employee who needed a public platform to distort a fraud file, mislead audiences, and support a fabricated campaign against the institutions of a partner state.The latest public remarks from Hijaouy’s son further weaken the narrative built around him. He spoke of years of lies and manipulation, said the first victims were inside his own family, rejected the victim narrative surrounding his father, and called on him to return to face justice..A Test for Canada’s Partnership with MoroccoThe timing is sensitive for Ottawa. On April 28, Canada and Morocco reaffirmed their commitment to renewed bilateral relations based on mutual respect, constructive dialogue, and openness, while agreeing to strengthen their relationship and give it new momentum. Canada’s federal police have also underlined the importance of the partnership with Morocco in addressing security challenges.Those statements require practical consistency. Canada cannot speak of renewed relations and security cooperation with Morocco while its territory remains useful to a Canadian citizen operating inside a digital network connected to a fugitive former intelligence employee wanted in a serious fraud file. Security cooperation requires Canadian authorities to recognize when Canadian platforms are used to support malicious digital propaganda with an extortionate and smear-oriented purpose against the institutions of a partner state.Ottawa should launch a serious investigation into the Hijaouy-Jerando file. Canadian authorities should coordinate with Morocco, which has direct access to key elements of the file, and, where necessary, with other competent authorities, because Hijaouy’s victims were not limited to Moroccan nationals.Canadian authorities should establish whether Canadian-based accounts, services, residents, or financial channels contributed to the campaign, and whether Jerando provided coordinated support to a fugitive who was trying to distort a criminal file, mislead public opinion, and conduct a fabricated campaign against the institutions of a partner state..The Cost of Canadian InactionCanada treats foreign files as external problems too often, even when part of the activity later emerges inside Canada. Hijaouy used Canada as a first refuge, and Jerando used Canada as a platform. Together, they show how fugitives and digital actors can turn Canadian openness into an operational advantage.Canada cannot build credible security partnerships abroad while its territory remains useful to fugitives or digital networks that help wanted individuals disguise criminal exposure through smear campaigns and false victimhood narratives. The Hijaouy-Jerando file is now a Canadian test of enforcement and institutional awareness. Ottawa has to act before Canada becomes a place where suspects do not merely pass through, but learn how to operate.Daniel Robson is a Canadian independent journalist specializing in digital extremism, national security, and counterterrorism.about.me/danielrobsonOn X: @Daniel_Robson_

ROBSON: How a foreign financial crime fugitive recruited a Canadian for a malicious digital campaign

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