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.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/immigration/report-human-trafficking/

@cocococococococo has she looked at shop job adverts? Might be bit eye opening....

A friend of my ex-husband fell for a scam, while trying to get a student visa for her husband to get him entry to the UK. She wasn't British, but worked here on an employment visa. She struggled to get him a spousal visa as she didn't have a UK passport, and met a man (friend of a friend) who promised to get him into the UK on a student visa to study for a degree. I am not sure exactly what happened, but plans did not work out, she was caught by the embassy with false educational papers for her husband and was out of pocket by a few thousand pounds having paid the 'facilitator'. Nothing too sinister happened in their case, apart from being ripped off. However, like others say here, it could be a very serious matter indeed.

Firstly, universities in the UK have to be shit hot on weeding out fake international applications. Universities are licensed by the government to act as sponsors for foreign students (this allows the student to apply for a student visa). If a university is found to be accepting fake students they risk losing their licence completely, which means they won't be able to accept any international students at all. International students are a valuable income stream and no university wants to risk losing that money - indeed some (most?) universities depend on the fees from international students to stay afloat.

Secondly, a student visa only allows part-time work, for a maximum of 20 hours per week. That is recorded on the visa itself and any 'proper' employer will abide by it. 20 hours a week at, say, £10 an hour is less than £11,000 a year. Even someone in a full-time job would have to be extremely well-paid to have £15k for discretionary spending in a year. Even if she works illegally, she's not going to earn that much.

Does she think she's actually going to study, or just enrol and pay for the course? How much will all this cost? Fake degree, MA course fees, flights, accommodation, living costs? Taking out a 'loan' for it?

As others have said, at best a scam, at worst trafficking.

I think she should seriously reconsider her plan.

Thank you for the helpline, I'll definitely check that out today.

And thank you for the cost of living information, it's so helpful and informative, I think she's much more likely to take this seriously reading all of these comments.

Also super helpful to know that on a student visa you can only work 20 hours. I've calculated the minimum wage multiplied by 20 and it's like £690 maximum a month. So I guess, best case scenario, she will also be working illegally on top of this. (The university she wants to go to is in London, I've just found out, which is obviously insanely expensive!)

I don't know to be honest. I think she must be planning to actually study because I think you need to at least pass the course to be able to stay in the UK afterwards? Apparently some of her friends have said that if you study in the UK you can get a work visa for two years afterwards to find work (but I think she's wrong about this - I have heard about this for people doing MAs in jobs that the UK has a shortage of, like engineers and certain medical professions. But the MA she's planning to do doesn't directly correlate to any job that's in any kind of demand.

classic if it sounds too good to be true.

i understand you're worried sick about your cousin, I would be too. But no one likes being told they’re an idiot. Can you maybe suggested her “friend” emails her some of the material from the course so she can prepare her application. Obviously they won’t exist and if something is sent it will hopefully beyond her understanding and start to shine a light. If you know where she’s planning on going can you send her the link for a city travel pass (for example) to help and it just happens to be £100 a month or whatever. Maybe a link to the plagiarism bit of the uni website asking how they get round this?

so basically provide all the evidence that this is so so unlikely to happen but let her come to that conclusion herself.

If she gets caught using fake documents to get a visa she could be prevented from ever traveling to the UK and other countries who share data on visa applications.

I bet the agent would bring her in on a tourist visa and then she would be encouraged to overstay and work on the black market, always at risk of being deported. She would be open to blackmail and all kinds of abuse.

There are legitimate ways to get a visa, can you encourage her to see if any of those options are open to her? The UK is not renowned for welcoming foreign workers at the moment though! Other countries might be easier and ultimately offer better prospects.

So glad other people said "human trafficking". That was my first thought.

It's hard enough for people with genuine degrees to attempt a master's in another country.

This sounds very concerning indeed.

One of the London unis was investigated a few years ago and had registered students who had gone missing. Since then I don't think it is as easy for overseas residents to get student visas.

But the MA she's planning to do doesn't directly correlate to any job that's in any kind of demand

It's highly unlikely she'd get the visa at all. You have to show not only that you have been accepted onto the course, you have to show why you need to do it in the UK and not at home or elsewhere. You also need to show how you intend to support yourself for the duration of the course, and you need evidence of a large amount of funds.
You need to have enough to pay for the course in full AND £1400 per month for London, for the first nine months at least. You also have to pay the healthcare surcharge. You have no recourse to public funds no matter what happens.

There have been some problems with fake universities operating as visa scams (more info here www.prospects.ac.uk/prospects-press-office/75-fake-universities-closed-in-uk). I wonder whether the MA course is run through something similar, especially if they accepted a fake degree with no difficulty.

She'll definitely struggle to pay back a loan, live comfortable and study - even taking out the study and working full time she will have difficulty. Prices are ridiculous. I'm on £24K, live frugally anyway, and having to make some hard decisions. Some foods have gone up 50% in the last year. I understand that renting is really tough at the moment, friends have struggled to find something suitable and affordable. She'll end up being forced into something she doesn't want to do to pay back the loan, and it will probably be really, really grim.

I used to be a local councillor and we had a 'spa' (massage parlour) which was closed a few months after opening when it was discovered that lots of the workers had been trafficked. I read the reports and it was not pleasant.

Oh dear. At best, this has disaster written all over it. At worst, this is people trafficking. I cannot see it ending well.

If the friend has actually paid off £15,000 in a year, my guess is she’s a sex worker.

She’s probably not seen any of that money and the person she owes money to has probably made much more off her with her debt increasing for food, accommodation etc.

she may well have been told she’ll get a big chunk off the debt if she arranges new women to do the same.

www.gov.uk/government/news/london-metropolitan-universitys-licence-revoked

Actually I know people who have done this and it has worked fine for them. Usually it is a dubious Bulgarian or Russian degree in a vague business subject, topped up by a vague masters in the UK from a provider who knows the score. Meanwhile they are working agency in HR etc and getting good experience which gets them better jobs.

They are not lying their way into brain surgery or electronic engineering. And truthfully, a lot of legitimate degrees in the UK are not worth much - I know this because I manage people who have been awarded them.

However you are right to be concerned about your cousin's situation OP, if she is putting herself in the hands of others.

Unfortunately lots of dodgy places in UK will offer an MA. Highly likely to be reputable , or even "count" as an MA. Likely distant learning.
I know this from extended family stories

Also, this isn’t higher end escort work (bad enough), it’s seedy massage parlours at 15 to 20 minutes a punter and 10 to 20 men a shift. If the friend isn’t lying about everything, she’s probably brought in a couple of hundred thousand pounds for her trafficker but only paid off £15,000 because sky high accommodation and food costs have been added to her debt.

She’ll probably get £10,000 or so off for each new woman she persuades to sign up.

What a stupid thing to say

I think the pister must have misread the op

I work on a modern slavery and human trafficking team.

This is a story I have heard many many times before. Extremely common in the Chinese sex trade. The loans are also often owed to the triad that 'owns them' . Massive issue with indentured bondage and sex trafficking from China/Vietnam atm. Warn your friend off.

I can also assure you that the National Document Forgery Unit can spot a fake degree a mile off. (The place docs are checked by the IND)

Why would she need a visa to come to the UK to do a MA by distance learning?

And not all distance learning postgrads are dodgy.

No. You can't get a student visa for a distance learning course. You can only get a visa to study at a bricks and mortar college that is a licensed sponsor with a proven track record of compliance