The Newsroom Papers investigation into “The Certificate Files”
reveals how corruption is cracking the education system in the UK
Published on April 19th, 2024
An investigation by Robert Goravsky and Karl Hans
Each year more than 12m qualification certificates are awarded to learners in England and around the world. Award Confirmation Letter fraud is the act of using a fake letter to make false claims about someone’s qualifications or a product. Fake certificates or diplomas are a billion pound industry and a growing problem in the UK.
This market is worth £600m in entry fees alone. This means that the opportunity to make money can sometimes lead to unethical behaviours. The result can be unfair outcomes for students and the loss of public confidence in qualifications, the awarding organisation and in the education sector as a whole.
In the UK, traditional verifying academic certificates processes are manual, time-consuming, and expensive, which is why many universities don’t even bother to check the authenticity of someone’s degree or training (the crooks know that). When universities don’t effectively verify credentials, crooks like Ana Maria Pasare manage to manipulate the system.
On the basis of these fake certificates and diplomas, the Britain’s universities and the government were heavily affected. Based on these forgeries, hundreds of people have been admitted to university studies, the British government paying hundreds of thousands of pounds as tuition fees. Some of these people are also completing these universities.
European and International students who wish to study in the UK must take certain tests to see if they fit eligible to study in the country, be it for specific courses or to meet language proficiency requirements set by the UK government. This is important so you can attend exams, lectures and take part in discussions.
UK universities require for entrance exams a minimum of 2 A-levels or their equivalent. But if a person has already covered all the relevant and necessary qualifications elsewhere and present these on admission, then this person does not have to take an admission exam at that university or college.
Using these fake certificates or diplomas indicate that the holder can apply to all of the UK universities and colleges without entrance examinations, since he has already completed a higher education in the UK. Ana Maria Pasare learned how this system works and decided to exploit it fraudulently, targeting Romanians in the UK.
A Brief Recap
Between 2022-2023
Ana Maria Pasare created a significant number of fictitious certificates (regarding a student’s award and period of study) and introduced them into the student’s application files.
A brief clarification
Please find attached the supporting documents that will allow you to see how the UK government approves student credit to a student who had on his student file a false document provided by Ana Maria Pasare.
Another student was threatened by this agent that if he spoke out, he would be charged with complicity.
The entire staff of this agency, Euro Education Group, is dealing with fraud just to produce money from the UK government.
In the next part of the investigation we will show how Ana Maria Pasare, the Euro Education Group’s manager, has constantly changed its visual identity and online accounts to not being detected.
£ 400 is the price
for a realistic
fake Business Administration diploma
What do the fake certificates created by a UK student recruitment agent, look like?
These fake certificates and degrees were made by Ana Maria Pasare, a UK-based
educational agent, who recruit romanian students to study at British universities.
TNP: How did you meet Ana Maria Pasare?
BT: In 2023, through several online advertisements. I didn’t know at the time the fact that, the ads were meant to attract Romanians to be tricked.
TNP: What you asked Ana Maria Pasare?
BT: To do my enrollment file for a UK university.
TNP: Who put in your student admission file the Confirmation of Degree Letter in business administration?
BT:Ana Maria Pasare. She was the agent who created my file and the one who sent my file to UCA:University for the Creative Arts, London – England.I only worked with her.
TNP: Did you ask for this fake degree and the digital confirmation letter?
BT: Absolutely not. I didn’t need these fakes because I had enough degrees to qualify me for college admission.
TNP: Then why did Ana Maria Pasare attach these fake degrees and digital degree confirmation letters to the students’ files?
BT: For money, I think… The more applications accepted, the more money he earned.He also told me that if the student’s application passes, I’ll have to give her 400 pounds in cash, when I will receive the first student finance payment.
TNP: Based on this fake degree, you’ve been accepted for the university admission test?
BT: Yes. The fake was so well done that not even the university realized the forgery. They accepted my file and I was scheduled for the exam.I passed the exam without any problem. After the exam, the university confirmed for SFE (Student Finance England) that they accepted me as a student, and Ana Maria Pasare applied for my student loan.
TNP: Did SFE accepted your student credit?
BT: Yes. I’m going to give you a copy of the documents.
TNP: Would you be willing to talk to the authorities about this?
BT: I have no problem with this.
TNP: What did Ana Maria Pasare do for you?.
IM: He filled out my admission file at Arden University.
TNP: Did it help you with the qualification requirements for admission?
IM: Yes
TNP: Did he attach to your student file a letter stating that you graduated Level 3 in business?
IM: Yes
TNP: Have you graduated that course?
IM: No, never.
TNP: So a fake letter was filed on your file.
IM: Right.
TNP: Did you receive money from the UK government as a student?
IM: I do not wish to answer……
TNP: Did you ask Ana Maria Pasare for that letter?
IM: No, she offered to get it.
TNP: Why did you decide to talk to us?
IM: So that I don’t go to jail……
TNP: Thank you
TNP: How do you get in touch with Euro Education Group, Ana Maria Pasare’s company?
AM: I found an online ad with one of her employees. I talked to her on the phone.
TNP: What did you contact that person for?
AM: To help me with my college enrollment
TNP: When did you contact Ana Maria Pasare’s employee?
AM: At the beginning of 2024
TNP: Do you remember the person’s name?
AM: Yes. Her name is Catalina Dragan.
TNP: What promises did this person give you?
AM: He asked me what my level of English is. I told her that it wasn’t a good level because I have been in the UK for a short time. Then she told me that her manager, Ana Maria Pasare, could help me in a special way.He told me he could sign me up for CECOS. CECOS will send me a link to the English exam to my email address. After I receive that link, her manager will take my English exam for me. After that, I will be admitted and I will be able to receive the student loan.
TNP: So Ana Maria Pasare has the opportunity to cheat the entrance exam at CECOS?
AM: Yes, he has this possibility as a manager. That’s what her employee told me
TNP: Did you accepted this agency’s offer?
AM: No. I was afraid I’d get caught.
TNP: Do you still have your phone conversations??
AM: Yes.
TNP: We’ll show you a poster of the person who posted the ad, please tell us if you identify it?
AM: Okay…. Yes, this is the poster I saw.
TNP: Thank you
Following the publication of the first part of the investigation, The Certificate Files: UK University Admissions Fraud, members of the Romanian community in the United Kingdom and people in Romania, began writing to us to express their support. Therefore, they indicated and provided us with a variety of useful information about the situation that we are investigating. One of these pieces of information came from a person in Brasov, Romania. She told us that she was surprised to see on one of Ana Maria Pasare’s social media accounts, that she wrote that she graduated from a university in England, when she knew that Ana Maria Pasare graduated from a banking-finance faculty in Romania (As a single source of information, we did not focus on this).
But things changed when we received the second confirmation of the information from another person, this time from Buzau, Romania.
With two different sources claiming the same situation, we began to verify that information. Checking her professional background, we discovered that the information coming from reputable sources, are true: Ana Maria Pasare lied in official documents and applications from Student Finance England in order to obtain funding from the government of the UK.
Student Finance England is the official authority in Great Britain that provides loans for students who meet the conditions to receive funds during their studies.
The loan is only given once in a lifetime, and one of the requirements for receiving these study funds is that you are not a university graduate before applying (even if you studied abroad and paid for that university yourself).
Under these circumstances Ana Maria Pasare has never been eligible for a UK government funding to study in the UK, and that’s because she had already graduated from a Romanian university before applying to Student Finance England.
Therefore, Ana Maria Pasare obtained funds of over £40,000 from the UK government, lying in official documents from Student Finance England, saying that, before studying in England, she never graduated a university.
These people must pay all the money back to the British government.
At the time we write this report, we are aware that Ana Maria Pasare already has a file with Student Loans Company in connection with this fraud.
In the next part of the investigation we will publish about :
- How Ana Maria Pasare, the Euro Education Group’s manager, has constantly changed its visual identity and online accounts to not being detected.
- Few podcasts with her victims and how the graduated letter scam worked.
MORE INVESTIGATIVE STORIES ABOUT UK EDUCATION FRAUD
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