Secret film reveals the rough strategy of immigration fraudsters

The BBC’s secret film reveals recruiters who deceive foreign nationals working in the UK’s nursing department.

One of the rogue agents is a Nigerian doctor who has worked for the NHS in the field of psychiatry.

The Home Office has acknowledged that the system is open to abuse, but a BBC World Service investigation shows that these agents can easily defraud people, avoid discovery and continue to make money.

Our secret shoot reveals the agents’ tactics, including:

• Illegal sale of UK nursing companies jobs

• Design a fake salary plan to conceal some jobs don’t exist

• Moving from nursing to other departments, such as construction, also faces staff shortages.

Since 2022, the Government Visa Program originally designed to allow foreign medical professionals to work in the UK (originally designed to allow foreign medical professionals to work), reports on immigration scams have increased to include caregivers.

To apply for a visa, the candidate must first obtain a “Certificate of Sponsorship” (COS) from a UK employer licensed by the Home Office. Rogue Relocations is taking advantage of the requirements of COS files.

“The scale of exploitation under the health and nursing work visa is very large,” said Dora-Olivia Vicol, a charity.

“I think it has turned into a national crisis.”

She said there is “inherent systemic risk” in the sponsorship system because it “puts employers in incredible power” and “puts the predatory market of the middleman into a mushroom.”

The BBC sent two undercover journalists to approach the relocation agent who worked in the UK.

A Nigerian doctor and Caiveveredu, the founder of the institution, met with Dr. Caiveveredu, in Harlow, Essex.

His website notes that his business is a “launch of global opportunities catering to young Africans” and claims to have 9,800 “happy customers.”

Dr Alaneme believes that the BBC secret journalist in the UK nursing department has good connections in the UK nursing field, and he tried to recruit her as his business agent and said it would be very profitable.

He said: “Just give me a nursing home. I can make you a millionaire.”

As a potential business partner, our journalists have given unprecedented insights into immigration scams by agents such as Dr. Alaneme. Dr Alaneme said he would pay £2,000 ($2,600) for each nursing home vacancies she was able to purchase and a commission of £500 ($650).

He then said he would sell the vacancies to candidates in Nigeria.

In the UK, it is illegal to charge candidates for work.

“them [the candidates] Payments should not be made for free. It should be free,” he said, lowering the sound.

“They paid because they knew it was probably the only way.”

The BBC began investigating him after a series of online complaints about his relocation services.

The compliment – from southeast Nigeria and in its 30s – is a complaining man claiming he paid Dr Alaneme more than £10,000 ($13,000) for UK jobs. He said he was told he would work with a nursing company called “Efficiency Care,” based in Clacton-on-Sea. It wasn’t until he arrived that he realized that the work did not exist.

“I wouldn’t have come here if I knew there was no job,” he said. “At least I’ll go back to my home in Nigeria, if you go bankrupt, I can find my sister or parents to eat free food. It’s different. You’ll be hungry.”

Praise said he sent efficiency to Care and Dr. Alaneme over the past few months, asking when he could start working. Although Dr. Alaneme is expected to help, the work has never been achieved. About a year later, he found a position that was willing to sponsor his nursing provider who remained in the UK.

Our survey found that the average efficiency of care required to be used in 2022, compared with 152 people in 2023. However, a letter sent from the Home Office to May 2023 – seen by the BBC – showed that the letter had issued 1,234 sponsorship certificates issued to foreign workers, which were issued to foreign workers between March 2022 and May 2022.

The efficiency of Care’s sponsored license was revoked in July 2023. Nursing companies are no longer recruited from abroad, but continue to operate.

It told the BBC that it strongly refuted the allegations of conspiracy with Dr. Alaneme. It said it believes it legally recruits employees from Nigeria and other countries. It said it had challenged the withdrawal of the Ministry of Home Affairs’ revocation of its sponsorship license, which is now in court.

In another secretly filmed conference, Dr. Alaneme shared a more complex scam involving sponsored documents for non-existent work.

The “advantage” of having job-independent cos, he said, is that you can choose whatever city you want.”

He told us: “You can go to Glasgow. You can stay in London. You can live anywhere.”

This is not true. If an immigrant arrives in the UK for a health and nursing work visa without playing a role in their assigned role, the visa can be cancelled and potentially deported.

In a secret shoot, Dr. Alaneme also describes how to build a fake salary system to cover up the fact that the job is not true.

“That [a money trail] It is what the government needs to see. ” he said.

Dr Alaneme told the BBC that he firmly refused Careeredu’s service to be a scam, or that it was a job that offered a recruitment agency or cash. He said his company only provides legal services, adding that the praise the money gave him had been transferred to recruitment agents for the shipping, accommodation and training of the praise. He said he was willing to help Praise find another employer for free.

The BBC also conducted a secret filming with another UK-based recruitment agent, Nana Akwasi Agyemang-Prempeh, after several people told the BBC they jointly paid tens of thousands of pounds for their friends and family because neither their friends nor family existed.

They said some sponsorship certificates Agyemang-Prempeh gave them the proof that they were fake-a replica of Real Cos issued by the nursing company.

We found that Mr Agyemang -Prempeh then began providing COS to the UK construction industry, another industry that allows employers to recruit foreign workers. He was able to set up his own construction company and obtain a sponsorship license from the Ministry of the Interior.

Our reporter posed as a Ugandan businessman from England looking to bring Ugandan construction workers to his ranks and asked Mr. Agyemang-Prempeh if he could.

He replied – the price for the three is £42,000 ($54,000).

Mr. Agyemang -Prempeh told us that he had entered the construction because the rules were “tightened” in the nursing department – claiming that the agents were focusing on other industries.

“People are moving it right now,” Mr. Agyemang-Prempeh told the undercover reporter.

Between July 2022 and December 2024, the government revoked more than 470 licenses from the UK nursing department. Starting October 2020, sponsors of these licenses are responsible for recruiting more than 39,000 medical professionals and caregivers.

Mr. Agyemang-Prempeh then requested a subsidy for the sponsorship certificate, which the BBC did not obtain.

The Home Office has now revoked his sponsorship license. When challenged by the BBC, Mr Agyemang-Prempeh’s defense was that he had been deceived by other agents and was unaware that he was selling fake COS files.

In a statement to the BBC, the Home Office said it had “forced action against shameless employers who abused the visa system” and would “ban business from sponsoring overseas workers to obtain UK employment laws.”

The BBC investigation has previously found similar visa scams targeting people in Kerala, India and international students living in the UK who want to work in nursing.

In November 2024, the government announced the employment of “rogue” workers from overseas workers. In addition, from April 9, nursing providers in England will be required to prioritize international nursing staff recruited from overseas.

Investigation team: Olaronke Alo, Chiagozie Nwonwu, Sucheera Maguire, Nyasha Michelle and Chiara Francavilla