BBC Africa Eye investigation: Secret filming exposes immigration scammers exploiting vulnerable victims

BBC Africa Eye exposes recruitment agents scamming foreign nationals out of thousands of pounds as they apply to work in the UK care sector.

In the UK more than 18,000 organisations provide services for the country’s elderly and for people with disabilities.

In the BBC Eye documentary,Stranded: Exposing the UK’s immigration scammers, reporter Olaronke Alo uncovers the harrowing consequences faced by migrants when rogue agents exploit gaps in the job market, taking advantage of flaws in the UK immigration system, that enable such visa scams to thrive.

Secret filming reveals agents’ tactics, including:

• Illegally selling jobs in UK care companies
• Recommending fake payroll schemes to conceal the fact that some promised jobs do not exist, leaving migrants stranded without employment and in breach of Home Office regulations
• Shifting from care to other sectors, like construction, that also face staff shortages

Reports of immigration scams have increased since a government visa scheme – originally designed to let foreign medical professionals work in the UK – was broadened in 2022 to include care workers.

To apply for the Health & Care Worker visa, candidates must first obtain a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) from a UK employer who is licensed by the Home Office. The need for the CoS document is what is being exploited by rogue relocation agents.

BBC Africa Eye sent two undercover journalists to approach relocation agents working in the UK.

Dr. Kelvin Alaneme, a doctor and founder of the agency CareerEdu, claims to be providing a 'launchpad for global opportunities catering to young Africans.' However, his scam involved charging for jobs, some of which did not exist.

In secret filming by the BBC, Dr. Alaneme – believing the BBC undercover journalist to be a well-connected potential business partner in the UK care sector – attempted to recruit her as an agent for his business, promising financial returns. He said: “Just get me care homes. I can make you a millionaire.”

Detailing how the complex scheme works, Dr. Alaneme revealed that he would pay £2,000 ($2,600) for each care home vacancy she procured, with an additional £500 ($650) commission. These vacancies would then be sold to candidates back in Nigeria.

Under UK law, charging candidates for a job is illegal.

Speaking about the unsuspecting candidates, he said: “They [the candidates] are not supposed to be paying because it's free. It should be free,” he said. He added: “They are paying because they know it's most likely the only way.”

The BBC began investigating Dr. Alaneme following a series of online complaints about his relocation services.

One of the victims, Praise, claimed he paid Dr. Alaneme over £10,000 ($13,000) for a promised job in the UK. He was told he would be working for a care company called Efficiency for Care, based in Clacton-on-Sea. However, upon arrival, he discovered the job didn’t exist.

Praise shared with the BBC that he came close to homelessness due to the scam. He said: “If I had known there was no job, I would have not come here. I came here to do a job.”

The BBC investigation found that Efficiency for Care employed on average 16 people in 2022, and 152 in 2023. Yet a letter sent from the Home Office to the company, dated May 2023 – and seen by the BBC – showed it had issued 1,234 Certificates of Sponsorship to foreign workers between March 2022 and May 2023.

Efficiency for Care’s sponsorship licence was revoked in July 2023. The care company can no longer recruit from abroad – but continues to operate.

The company told the BBC it strongly refutes the allegation it colluded with Dr. Alaneme. It said it believed it lawfully recruited staff from Nigeria and other countries. It has challenged the Home Office’s revocation of its sponsorship licence, it said, and the matter is now in court.

In another secretly filmed meeting, Dr. Alaneme shared another part of the scam, which involved providing migrants with Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) for jobs that did not exist. He claimed the advantage of having a CoS unrelated to a job allows freedom for migrants to live anywhere in the UK. Under UK law this is not permitted. If a migrant arrives in the UK on a Health and Care Worker visa and does not work in the role they have been assigned, their visa could be cancelled and they risk being deported.

He also told the undercover reporter how a fake payroll system in the care homes could be used to mask the fact the jobs are not real.

Dr. Alaneme told the BBC he denies that services offered by CareerEdu were a scam or that it acted as a recruitment agency or provided jobs for cash. He said his company only offered legitimate services, adding that the money Praise gave him was passed on to a recruitment agent for Praise's transport, accommodation and training. He said he offered to help Praise find another employer free of charge.

In a separate scam, three victims from across the UK told the BBC that another UK-based recruitment agent, Nana Akwasi Agyemang-Prempeh, had swindled them out of nearly £67,000 in total, promising care worker jobs for friends and family that never existed.

The victims said some of the Certificates of Sponsorships (CoS) Mr. Agyemang-Prempeh gave them had turned out to be fakes - replicas of real CoS issued by care companies.

In response to the allegations, Mr. Agyemang-Prempeh told a BBC journalist he was also the victim of a scam and had been duped into accepting fake certificates which he had then innocently passed on to victims. He said he is not authorised to issue certificates of sponsorship.

Matthew Bond, CEO of Borderless, a tech company helping businesses comply with immigration rules, told the BBC why the scam was so prevalent. “A Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is issued by a business, which is saying I'm going to sponsor an individual, and without that you can’t get a visa and you can't travel to the UK to take up your job.” He added: “Because so many people want these jobs in the UK the Certificate of Sponsorship is the thing that is really in demand and that's where agencies have exploited the system by charging candidates tens of thousands of pounds for these certificates.”

The BBC approached the Home Office to see what it was doing to combat the exploitation of foreign workers. In a statement to the BBC, the Home Office said: “The government has announced robust new action against shameless employers who abuse the visa system, with tough measures that will ban businesses who flout UK employment laws from sponsoring overseas workers.”

Harry (not his real name), another victim of such scams, spoke to the BBC, detailing the devastating impact on his life. Having lost close to £9,500 (17 to 18 million Naira), he revealed that he had sold properties, resigned from his job, and even taken out loans from family and friends in order to move to the UK. He said: “These scammers keep getting rich, using people's sweat, people that have laboured. I have friends and family who have had to relocate abroad for greener pasture, and when they are leaving, it's not just about their dreams, they are carrying on their shoulders the dreams and hopes of family members.”

*This investigation was conducted by Africa Eye and the BBC's Global Disinformation Unit.

Where to watch or listen to ‘Stranded: Exposing the UK’s immigration scammers’:

• BBC Africa News YouTube page (English) from Monday 31 March 2025
• On BBC iPlayer (UK only