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Largest UK visa fraud uncovered
Three people have been found guilty of various charges after the UK’s biggest visa fraud was uncovered in West London.
Rakhi Shar, Neelam Sharma, and their husband Jatinder Kumar Sharma were found guilty of offences including conspiracy to defraud, handling criminal property, money laundering, possessing an identity document with intent and various immigration offences.
It is believed that Sharma married both women in India and the trio then set up a consultancy called Univisas, which helped secure illegal visas for an estimated 1000 people. By creating false documents, the company was able to exploit the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme and other leave to remain visa schemes.
As part of the scam the group forged thousands of documents including tax and wage forms, fake education certificates and bogus references. These were then used to 
apply for fraudulent work and student visas.
The group created thousands of bogus documents including college degree certificates, tax and wage forms, references and academic records, to secure UK visas including student visas. When Univisa’s offices were raided, police and border agency officials found over 90,000 fake documents, including fraudulent passports and 150 ink stamps.
Overseeing the case, Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson criticised a number of government agencies including the Home Office and the UK Border Agency for not diligently checking visa applications, stating that “the checks were woefully inadequate and frequently non-existent.” Visa fraud applicants were even able to give the same address for various different applications, and one applicant even changed gender during the checking process.
The visa fraud trio were caught after an undercover journalist was offered fraudulent id documents for £4,000 and reported the company to the authorities. It is estimated that the visa scam made £1.5 million for the company, who were so confident in their fake documents that they offered a money back guarantee to customers.
The scam highlights the need for employers to remain vigilant and to consider electronic identity verification and id document checks as part of their recruitment and safeguarding process. For more information please see our recruitment compliance page.
4th June 2009
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