By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Recruitment agents specialising in defrauding foreign nationals seeking employment in the UK care sector have been exposed, BBC secret filming has revealed.
One of the agents, Nigerian-born medical doctor Kelvin Alaneme, who works for the NHS in psychiatry, was filmed by a BBC undercover journalist allegedly selling non-existent job opportunities to foreigners.
Dr Alaneme is also the founder of CareerEdu, an agency based in Harlow, Essex, which describes itself as a “launchpad for global opportunities catering to young Africans” and claims to have 9,800 “happy clients.”
Under UK law, it is an offence to sell employment slots. Trouble started for Alaneme, described as a “rogue agent” by the BBC, following a series of online complaints about his relocation services, prompting an investigation.
According to the investigative report, believing she had strong connections in the UK care sector, Dr Alaneme attempted to recruit the BBC journalist, offering her a role as an agent for his business, assuring her that she could make a fortune by securing care home vacancies.
“Just get me care homes. I can make you a millionaire in pounds,” he said in an online video obtained by The Heritage Times.
Reports of immigration scams have increased since a government visa scheme, originally designed to allow foreign medical professionals to work in the UK, was expanded in 2022 to include care workers.
To apply for the visa, candidates must first obtain a “Certificate of Sponsorship” (CoS) from a UK employer licensed by the Home Office. It is the need for CoS documents that is being exploited by rogue relocation agents like Dr Alaneme.
“The scale of exploitation under the Health and Care Work visa is significant,” says Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of Work Rights Centre, a charity that helps migrants and disadvantaged people in the UK access employment justice.
According to the BBC report, “As a potential business partner, our journalist was then given unprecedented insight into how immigration scams by agents like Dr Alaneme actually work.
“Dr Alaneme said he would pay £2,000 ($2,600) for each care home vacancy she was able to procure and offered £500 ($650) commission on top.”
Alaneme allegedly planned to sell the vacancies to candidates coming to the UK from Nigeria.
“They [the candidates] are not supposed to be paying because it’s free. It should be free,” Dr Alaneme said in hushed tones. “They are paying because they know it’s most likely the only way.”
One of the victims, a Nigerian man in his mid-30s known as Praise, claimed he paid Dr Alaneme over £10,000 ($13,000) for a job in the UK.
“I was told I was going to be working with a care company called Efficiency for Care, based in Clacton-on-Sea,” he recounted.
However, upon arrival, he discovered the job did not exist.
“If I had known there was no job, I would not have come here,” he said. “At least back home in Nigeria, if you go broke, I can find my sister or my parents and go and eat free food. It’s not the same here. You will go hungry,” PUNCH quoted him as saying.
In another secretly recorded meeting, Dr Alaneme detailed an even more sophisticated scam involving sponsorship documents for non-existent jobs.
“The advantage of having a CoS that is unconnected to a job,” he said, “is that you can choose any city you want.”
“You can go to Glasgow. You can stay in London. You can live anywhere,” he explained.
However, the BBC report debunked this claim, stating, “This is not true. If a migrant arrives in the UK on a Health and Care Work visa and does not work in the role they have been assigned, their visa could be cancelled, and they risk being deported.”
Responding to the allegations, Dr Alaneme “strenuously denied” that CareerEdu was involved in a scam, insisting that it was neither a recruitment agency nor a service that provided jobs for cash.
He claimed that the money Praise paid was forwarded to a recruitment agent for transportation, accommodation, and training expenses.
“He said he offered to help Praise find another employer free of charge,” the BBC report concluded.
In a post on his X.com page on Monday, he reaffirmed his stance, stating, “I have never scammed or defrauded anyone in my life. And I never will.
“We are not care job employers in the UK. Our job is to link qualified employees to legitimate and licensed employers and recruiters who do provide Certificates of Sponsorship.”
Emphasising transparency in their operations, he noted, “We have always made it clear that Certificates of Sponsorship are free. That said, some recruiters and employers charge extra costs. These costs can cover training, transportation, and even accommodation, and vary from employer to employer.”
He added that in cases where clients were not successful, they were fully refunded these extra costs with no questions asked.
