Several Indian students were swindled out of lakhs of rupees for visa documentation to work in UK, which eventually turned out to be worthless, said a report by BBC.
The report pointed out that a global network of middlemen tricked the students into giving them money for documents which could allow them to work in the care industry. The students paid a hefty amount of nearly Rs 19 lakh (£17,000) each for sponsorship certificates that should have been free.
As per the report at least 86 students have fallen prey to such networks.
Taimoor Raza, one of the accused at the centre of the offence reportedly sold 141 visa documents to different students and took more than Rs 13 crore (£1.2 million) from them. Most of the documents that he provided in return were of no use for the students and were rejected by the country's Home Office for being invalid.
The news organisation talked to 17 such students including three women who narrated their ordeal.
One of the victims of the fraud told BBC that she is now trapped in UK with "the savings of her entire family gone to waste." She had paid Rs 16.5 lakh (£15,000) to a "training agency" to switch her student visa to a care worker one.
Another 21-year-old student spoke to the publication and said that she arrived in UK in 2021 on a study visa. While pursuing BA in a computer science course, the woman decided to apply for a job.
She got in touch with an agent through her friend who asked her to give Rs 11 lakh (£10,000) in exchange for correct documentation for care work.
"He told me 'I won’t charge a lot of money from you because you look like my sisters'," Nadia, who lives in Wolverhampton, said.
After paying nearly Rs 9 lakh and waiting for six months, the woman got a document stating that she had work at a care home in Walsall. However, when she called the care home, she got to know that they already had full staff and didn’t provide any certificates of sponsorship.
The agent then blocked her number.
As per the report, Raza is the head of only one of such 'fraud' visa network. Raza is a Pakistani national who had been living in Wolverhampton and working in Birmingham.
He rented offices and hired staff in the West Midlands and promised dozens of students work in care homes and employment sponsorship.
While talking to BBC, Raza denied having scammed anyone and said that he has paid some of the students back. A few students even managed to secure jobs but, most of them were left 'penniless.'
Most of the victims are scared to even report the scam that has left them without jobs or money.
Student Ajay Thind, who worked for Raza said that he grew suspicious of the job after the applications of the students were being rejected. Some of his friends also lost money.
Thind even confronted Raza and said, “I told Raza and he said to me, 'your brain isn’t made for stress, let me handle the stress."
Raza is in Pakistan since 2023 and said that he is in contact with his lawyers over the allegations.