about cousin and fake degree

[cocococococococo]

Name changed for fairly obvious reasons.

My cousin is from a south Asian country and a lot of people she knows have recently moved to the UK from there. They are all working as carers, drivers, shop assistants, often alongside studying.

Cousin has decided she is going. She doesn't have a degree so is planning to get a fake degree from her home country which apparently her friend did. This fake degree then got her accepted onto an MA degree in the UK and got her a visa. If you do an MA in England you are allowed to work while doing it, apparently, so this is the plan.

Here's the thing. I am British and I know fraud is a huge deal in the UK. And this is basically, fraud, right? I am concerned that there will be huge implications if she gets caught - the very minimum kicked off her course and her visa cancelled? Not to mention that she will also have to take out a huge loan to pay for her course and flights etc in advance, which obviously won't be returned if she gets kicked off during the course.

Secondly, the 'friend' she is going with sounds like a total liar and I'm worried it might be something even more sinister like trafficking. The 'friend' says that:

1. She has got the fake degree and it was super easy getting on to the course and is basically risk free. I know it is untrue that it is risk free because of the reasons I mentioned above, but I wondered if anyone knows any more about the risks or likelihood of her getting caught?
2. 'Friend' says that she has been studying and working part-time in a shop and has so far managed to pay off around £15000 of the loan payment that SHE took to come, in just one year. (The reason this worries me is because although I'm not living in England right now, I have loads of friends and family who are still there - not her side of the family so nobody she talks to - and everyone is telling me that the situation in England money-wise is awful right now, with bills and food and rent skyrocketing and people having to choose whether to heat or eat. Even my SIL who is a teacher married to a lawyer is having trouble with the cost of living, yet my cousin's 'friend' is living like a queen on a part time shop assistant salary?).
3. The 'friend' has said my cousin can live with her while she's there. I'm pretty sure this friend is working for the agent who send HER over on the dodgy degree and is getting paid to convince other people to go too (because the agent gets paid a huge fee if someone goes even if they have an awful time and make no money and it all turns out to be a lie, so they often pay others to help them sign people up.) I am convinced that this friend will just kick her out once she's there and cousin will be left alone basically homeless. She has no money and no savings.

I am writing this to show to my cousin because she doesn't believe me. She is saying that it will all be amazing, she will earn so much money, have no risk, etc. I am worried that at the very minimum it's a scam to get the agent fee, or even worse it could be something awful like trafficking. It's ringing a lot of alarm bells.

Anyone who can say more about this please help me explain to her why this is an awful idea!

(She's planning to leave her child at home in her home country to do this because her 'friend' has convinced her that it's such a great idea and that she can easily bring her child over in a year, will have plenty of money and a life all settled by then. So I'm also worried about this - leaving her child is a big deal and if it's all for nothing it will be even sadder.)

I'm not normally intruding and try to always be supportive but I'm worried she could be getting herself in trouble, loads of debt, or even serious danger.

How is she going to blag her way through an MA if she hasn’t even got a Batchelor’s degree?

Well, human trafficking seems a concern here.

I also question how she will manage to stay on a MA course with no degree.

This was my first thought. Apart from the risk of it possibly being a traffic ring. It sounds like an awful idea OP. I’m not surprised you’re worried!

The 'friend' is definitely scamming her at best, trafficking at worst.

And yes, all the other stuff you say is correct; if she doesn't have the degree she says she has, she will be kicked off the course and her visa cancelled and she will lose a huge amount of money.

She is at serious risk if she follows this plan.

Doesn’t sound good at all, she’ll probably never go to the course and will end up working to pay off all her fees. See if you can contact this charity www.modernslaveryhelpline.org/

This is definitely a human trafficking concern. I recently did an MA in my local university. They wanted proof of my degree and they didn't even care that my original BA was with THEM, I still had to submit my academic transcript for the correct department to verify my grades and course content etc. The standard for getting onto any MA in this country is very high and only certain universities across the world are up to the same standard.

www.edgehill.ac.uk/departments/support/international/your-country/

I think the friend is scamming her or trafficking her. I doubt the friend has been accepted for an MA and if she has it certainly not at a legit institution.

If she manages to get the MA, she’ll still need to show proof of her undergraduate degree when she gets a job.

It’s fraudulent and deceitful yes and also hugely financially risky.

Sadly I don't think blagging onto the MA is the difficult part. Having worked recently in a university there are lots of overseas students who clearly don't have the grounding to be there, but uni's are now money making enterprises first and foremost. Those students invariably come from wealthy backgrounds. The real flaw in the plan is financial. It would be easy enough to put together a budget to show that a part-time cafe salary c£10k minus basic costs of room/bills/food c £12 k if you're really frugal, leave you impoverished and definitely unable to live never mind pay back a loan. This stinks like a scam and very likely a dangerous one on so many levels. I'm sorry your cousin is desperate but there has to be a better way.

It's immoral, fraudulent and a great risk. On top of all that, attempting to complete a masters without first going through the learning process of completing a bachelors will be excruciating. It will probably become possibly obvious to university staff that she hasn't completed a degree.

lots of trafficking red flags. Especially the part about the large loan she would be taking to come here. Can you find some anti trafficking charities in your cousin’s home country, & call them for advice? There are lots in south/ Southeast Asia

She sounds painfully naiive - human trafficking for organ harvesting or sexual slavery is a huge and growing problem across the world but especially in areas of South East Asia.

You are correct that the financial situation here is extremely precarious at the moment. I am not kidding when I say that I earn £30k a year and am seriously considering whether I can manage without gas and/ or electricity at all after my fixed contact runs out next year. And a North Western European winter with no power at all is no joke, believe me. You can freeze to death indoors here, very easily.

The developed world is finished for now, as far as I can see. Emmanuel Macron , the French prime minister, said as much in a speech two months back. The real opportunities are now in places like India.

Unless she can earn £50k a year straight off tell her to forget it. Anyone telling her otherwise is lying - either through ulterior motives or to save face.

At this point I am not going to lie I am VERY concerned for your cousins safety. Wages over here in the North for a full time shop worker you would struggle to get £20k per year and there is absolutely NO WAY you could live off £5k....please please tell your sister this is some sort of scam as a minimum and Trafficking at worst case senario. Please keep us updated as I am seriously concerned about what you have advised and hope she makes the right choice

Border control may look into her degree in detail. I saw it on one of those airport programmes at one of the London airports.

"friend" is scamming.
We had similar things and that was when my people didn't even need the bloody visa! Fee for agencies to find them work instead.

The biggest problem here isn't even the fake diploma. It's the fact she will not believe you and listen to reason if she is that deep in

Sorry but are you fucking stupid? So you'd let a family member that you LIKED literally be put at risk of huge, life ruining debt or WORSE - being trafficked and like a PP upthread said either disappearing into the sex trade of having her organs harvested or something else horrific?

Stop attention seeking and go away. Pathetic.

AFAIK on a student visa you are allowed to work up to 20 hours a week. Averaged over the year, so some students work full time all vacations and not in term time. All perfectly legal.

She will last 5 minutes on a MA course in the UK with a fake degree. Assuming the university accept her in the first place, she will also need references and universities in the UK are well aware of fake degrees and dodgy institutions. THEY WILL CHECK. If she does manage to con them into giving her a place, it's going to be very obivous she has zero clue about the course and if she stops attending or fails assignments, she'll be kicked off her course and will have no right to stay in the UK.

Universities are legally obligated to check all their overseas students are genuine, her fake degree will be found out. It sounds extremely dodgy & I'd be very worried about trafficking/modern slavery if I were her family. She is placing herself in a very dangerous situation.

The ability to work isn't issue really, the lie about how much she can make is.
A part time 20 hour job in shop to bring enough to live well AND save 15k?
Nah.

It's lies, but the worse is that people don't listen if they don't want to hear it sadly

Thank you everyone else for the comments, this is so helpful. It's SO dodgy and so worrying. I will show her this because this has basically just confirmed my worst fears. So stressful.

Does anyone know if there is somewhere/someone in the UK that I can report the agent to if I can find out the details?

I would say she is being trafficked.

And yes, the story about saving £15,000 on a part time shop assistant salary - not true.

The living wage is arond £10 per hour. If you are working 20 hours a week that's £10,400 a year. It's not enough to support yourself with rent, food or bills, let alone save money too. Even if you're working full time at 40 hours a week, it's only £21k ish and if she's saved £15k, she's expecting you to believe she is only spending £500 a month on her rent, bills, all of her food, travel etc.

Does sound like trafficking, you should do all you can to dissuade your cousin.

@cocococococococo

Modern Slavery Helpline,

www.modernslaveryhelpline.org/