A BBC secret investigation has revealed how a Nigerian Doctor based in the UK took advantage of innocent Africans, Nigerians especially seeking to work in the UK health sector for years.
The BBC tagged him as a rogue agent doctor who has worked for the NHS in the field of psychiatry.
He is accused of illegally selling jobs in UK care companies. Devising fake payroll schemes to conceal that some jobs do not exist. Shifting from care to other sectors, like construction, that also face staff shortages.
To apply for the visa, candidates must first obtain a “Certificate of Sponsorship” (CoS) from a UK employer who is licensed by the Home Office. It is the need for CoS documents that is being exploited by rogue relocation agents.
The BBC sent two undercover journalists to approach relocation agents working in the UK.
One met Dr Kelvin Alaneme, a Nigerian doctor and founder of the agency, CareerEdu, based in Harlow, Essex.
His website states his business is a “launchpad for global opportunities catering to young Africans”, claiming to have 9,800 “happy clients”.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=191CuNRGoos&feature=youtu.be
Believing the BBC undercover journalist was well connected in the UK care sector, Dr Alaneme tried to recruit her to become an agent for his business, saying it would be very lucrative.
“Just get me care homes. I can make you a millionaire,” he said.
As a potential business partner, the BBC 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.
He then said he would sell the vacancies to candidates back in Nigeria.
Charging candidates for a job is illegal in the UK.
“They – the candidates – are not supposed to be paying because it’s free. It should be free,” he said, lowering his voice.
“They are paying because they know it’s most likely the only way.”
The BBC began investigating him following a series of online complaints about his relocation services.
Praise – from south-east Nigeria and in his mid 30s – was one of those who complained, claiming he paid Dr Alaneme more than £10,000 ($13,000) for a job in the UK. He says he was told he was going to be working with a care company called Efficiency for Care, based in Clacton-on-Sea. It was only when he arrived that he realised the job didn’t exist.
In another secretly filmed meeting, Dr Alaneme shared an even more sophisticated scam involving sponsorship documents for jobs that did not exist.
He said the “advantage” of having a CoS that is unconnected to a job “is that you can choose any city you want”.
“You can go to Glasgow. You can stay in London. You can live anywhere,” he told us.
The BBC investigation team says 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.
In the secret filming, Dr Alaneme also described how to set up a fake payroll system to mask the fact the jobs are not real.
“That [a money trail] is what the government needs to see,” he said.
Dr Alaneme told the BBC journalist he strenuously denied 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.
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.
It 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.
Immigration has become a big problem in the United Kingdom recently as the Labour Government is currently taking so much measures to cut down the inflow of migrants.
Dr. Kelvin Alaneme replies BBC:
In a well written response, Dr. Kelvin Alaneme has responded to the BBC documentary that accused him of immigration scam.
Nigerian Reports got a hold of his statement and he claimed innocent of scamming innocent Nigerians:
I am making this statement for all who have known me here and believe in the vision we have always shared. I have never scammed or defrauded anyone in my life. And I never will.
Since we began in 2020, CareerEdu has helped over 5000 Nigerians relocate, not just to the UK but to other countries. We have services in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Oman, United States.
We are not Care Job employers in the UK. We have always made this clear. Our job is to LINK qualified employees to LEGITIMATE and LICENSED employers and recruiters who do provide Certificate of Sponsorship.
We have always made it clear that Certificate of Sponsorship is FREE. That said, some recruiters and employers charge some extra costs. These costs can cover training, transportation and even accommodation and varies from employer to employer. We do communicate this clearly to the clients and in the event that these clients are not successful, they do get a FULL refund of these extra costs, no questions asked.
Our job as a linking company ends when the employee successfully comes into the UK and is handed over to the employer to commence training, DBS and other pre-employment routines.
Every COS issued by employers to our clients were legitimate and they all relocated successfully.
Over 98% of persons we have placed into employment are settled and working with their employers in the UK. We prepare these employees and ensure that the Healthcare workers that eventually come to the UK are ‘the best of the best’.
There have been on very few occasions where the employers overstated their needs or recruited more persons that they had shifts for. On these few occasions, we do our best to find alternative employers in the UK for these clients at no extra costs. We also blacklist such employers and never send them candidates again.
Last year, I was contacted by someone from Borderless who said she had access to employers. We were trying to become a direct recruitment agency so we can slash the ‘extra costs’ charged by recruiters and employers. The said company said they will take £2k which should cover for training, transportation costs. It sounded too good to be true compared to what was obtainable which explained why I was enthusiastic about it. I proposed that the agent will be compensated on a commission basis per person placed – a referral bonus – which is legal. Anyone who knows how commission payment works knows that there is no ceiling to how much the referrer can make. This was all there is to it, soundbites aside.
The plan was simple, design a super-affordable package that will cover training, accommodation and make settling and assimilation easier for immigrant healthcare workers.
When she came back that the client does not have shifts yet, I informed her that it will be difficult. A lot of our conversations surrounding this was cut to suit their agenda. It is our policy to be fully transparent to our clients and I told her we will inform any clients that these do not have hours yet. That said, they will still have 20 hours that they can do Care Jobs anywhere in the UK.
Again, every single thing I have done both personally and through my company CareerEdu has been driven by the vision to provide global opportunities for young Nigerians starved by their countries of those opportunities.
Since last year, we have slowed down on relocation because of the general anti-immigration climate globally. The exchange rate has not helped – average Nigerians can no longer even afford tuition abroad.
When the BBC asked for my right of reply, I detailed every single thing that transpired, with evidence. My lawyers have been in touch and will advise on how we address this highly defamatory and misleading publication. For Praise, we presented evidence that every single dime he paid to us was transferred to the recruiter. He knows this, yet he is bent on tarnishing our hard-earned reputation. We will address this legally.
If the BBC really wanted to do a ‘real story’ – there are many individuals exploiting people, issuing fake COS, and outrightly scamming people and disappearing with their monies.
We have done none of this yet they maliciously insist on putting out this one-sided falsehood.
I believe that the truth will win and posterity will vindicate the just.
