Nursing agency boss scammed migrant workers out of £100,000 with fake visas

A nursing agency boss operated the UK end of an international forged visa fraud, conning would-be workers from abroad out of thousands of pounds with bogus promises of jobs and sponsorship.

Sunitha Kemlo, 48, charged health care hopefuls and other agency operators more than £100,000 for her services but provided forged documents and jobs that did not materialise.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard that Kemlo, a mother-of-two and herself a former nurse, was arrested after several clients complained to the police and “a wide ranging police and Home Office investigation took place”.

Her flat was searched, she was arrested, her telephone was seized and analysed, and revealed “extensive” conversations relating to the fraud.

Some of her victims were abroad, in India and Nigeria, and hoped to come to work in the UK and others were already in the UK on student visas and hoped to stay after the completion of their studies.

Kemlo, of Stirling, pleaded guilty to defrauding her victims out a total of £105,580 during the period of the scam, between August 2022 and December 2023.

Individual victims paid sums ranging from £3,000 to over £13,000 for work visas and crucial “certificates of sponsorship” – official documents that act as passports to work in the UK.

Joanne Ritchie, prosecuting, said: “Over the period of time the accused was engaged in a fraudulent scheme which was centred on the pretence that people outside the UK would be provided with a Certificate of Sponsorship, a job placement and a work visa in exchange for a fee.

“It became apparent to customers over time that documents they were provided with were forgeries, and did not originate from the Home Office, and that job placements and visas had not in fact been arranged.”

Kemlo operated the scam through an agency — BizzNurse Ltd — that she had set up in 2016 and had originally operated legally.

The court heard it was accepted by the Crown that Kemlo was “not at the top of the hierarchy in the scheme, and was in effect acting as facilitator”.

Ms Ritchie, the depute fiscal, said Kemlo was engaged in the scheme with a man named as John Mwanyali, who is currently in Zimbabwe.

The prosecutor added: “Mwanyali appears to be the individual who was exercising control over the scheme and the work carried out by the accused in furtherance of same.”

Kemlo told clients Mwanyali was an immigration lawyer and organised Teams meetings with him for clients.

The court heard several victims found out they had been conned when they contacted the care services where they had supposedly got jobs – in England, Scotland and also Wales – to find out they had never issued the offers of employment.

One Edinburgh-based care firm had never even heard of Bizz Nurse, while reference numbers on certificates of sponsorship that Kemlo had provided were false.

One victim travelled 1600 kilometres in her home country for “biometric appointments” that never existed, while another, in the UK, travelled to Glasgow for a biometric appointment, only to find it also did not exist.

The court heard that during the period of the fraud, Kemlo had been paid around £17,000 as “salary” for what she did, while over £96,000 had been remitted to Mwanyali.

Alastair Ross, defending, said Kemlo had founded BizzNurse in December 2016 and had traded “on a perfectly legitimate basis” for years before she got involved in the fraud.

Mr Ross said threats had been made to Kemlo’s family in India.

He told the court: “All of that should have been reported to the authorities. I’m not suggesting she was coerced.

“The scheme was clearly fraudulent and she was aware of that.”

Mr Ross said Kemlo had repaid some money to some clients.

He said she now suffered some significant health difficulties and was suffering “some cognitive impairment”, depression, anxiety and was awaiting a brain scan.

Sheriff Keith O’Mahony deferred sentence for reports until October 1, but warned Kemlo she faced “a full range of sentencing options” when she returns to court.