The Newsroom Papers investigation into “The Certificate Files”
reveals how corruption is cracking the education system in the UK
Published on March 27th, 2024
An investigation by Robert Goravsky and Karl Hans
One in three students at British universities encountered fraud attempts online last year, according to a new study. Other common scams targeting students include social media and HMRC tax scams, while the instances of bank scams decreased significantly from 2022, with only 10% of students encountering this type of scam.
The effect of education fraud on the UK is still huge, and the chance of becoming a victim of it is still far too high. Our investigation first began in December 2023, when we received intelligence about suspicious enrollment activity linked to the UK universities. Verifying the accuracy of incoming information, we were led to a person from Romania, who is a resident in the UK.
The scheme worked smoothly for a while but, at a certain point, the students realized that they had become victims of a criminal network. Once they uncovered the trick, it leaked to our editorial office.
Ana Maria Pasare, slipped dozens of bogus confirmation letters into students’ applications.
VICTIMS EXIST
In the second part of the investigation, we will discuss with Ana Maria Pasare’s victims
A brief statement
Ana Maria Pasare is willing to pay for each student in Romania, a commission between £300 and £500 pounds. We wonder why?
Just so we know
Starting 2021, the UK education agent, Ana Maria Pasare, has traded over 300 student applications, most of them from Romania and some of them used this certificates.
A quick recap
In the UK, if you’re a non-native English speaker and/or that you have been educated in country where English is not the primary language and your English skills are poor, and you want to study a degree taught in English, you will not be qualified for enrollment.
In general, UK colleges and universities do not have entrance exams, but require that you already have suitable qualifications for entry, such as a GCSE Certificate or a Higher National Diploma (Level 3).
If a student meets this standard entry requirement for admission (He already has these qualifications for entry), he can be admitted to a UK university without taking entrance exams.
But there is a loophole here that will allow these crooks to trick the UK’s universities. This loophole is called: the Award Confirmation Letter.
This letter is generally accepted by potential universities in place of the actual certificate or transcript. The letter will confirm your award and degree classification, dates of attendance, and the name of the programme you studied. Essentially, this letter will confirm that you hold the necessary degree to be admitted to the university.
And this is where Ana Maria Pasare’s “help” comes in.
A survey by the UK’s national qualifications agency, UK NARIC, has revealed that only one in four university admissions staff feel confident spotting fake qualification documents without assistance.
The real problem is that the UK does not require a licence for agents to recruit students to UK universities, colleges or schools and the latest designs of these letters can be easily copied on to forgeries and passed off as genuine to universities. This allowed Ana Maria Pasare to create these false confirmation letters and place them into the students’ files.
Ana Maria Pasare’s forgeries show that the certificates and award confirmation letters apparently came from an awarding body based in Manchester, United Kingdom: Training Qualifications UK. These forgeries also show that the training provider is Third Eye Communication, a vocational training center based in London, UK.
We have spoken with these centers, and they told us that they have nothing to do with this scam and they don’t know Ana Maria Pasare. (evidence).
So far, these forgeries (Letters of Confirmation of Study/Award) have been identified at UCA England (University for the Creative Arts) and LLCA London, UK. (London College of Contemporary Arts). …. but we intend to continue investigating the alleged fraud.
However, what is the worst thing here is the fact that the University for the Creative Arts and London College of Contemporary Arts did not even speak with the students who are victims of this fraud.
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In mid-2021, Smart Move Education Group hired Ana Maria Pasare as an educational agent. In just a few months, he starts setting up a system of education fraud and recruiting students. Most of the students were Romanians who did not know the requirements of the UK education system.
Therefore, through insidious promises and empty lies, he managed to convince over 300 students to sign with her as an agent. For example, in her personal statements, Ana Maria Pasare assured future students that the UK government would provide full and non-refundable payment for their courses – correspondence evidence. (These are just a pack of lies. The UK government forces students to pay back their loans – the UK student rules and regulations).
But the fraudulent activity went much further: Having the taste of money in her blood, she decided to do something more . Therefore, from 2022 until September 2023 (when Smart Move Education Agency decided to end their contract with her), Ana Maria Pasare created a significant number of fictitious letters (regarding a student’s award and period of study) and introduced them into the student’s application files.
Here’s where it all starts. From this point on, Ana Maria Pasare promises to any of her students, “admission to a British university is guaranteed”(proof of promises).
The entire fraud was being carried out from an agency with offices in London – Smart Move Education Agency, using the phone number 07862241477, the email address [email protected] and synthetic advertising.
(sample 1 ; sample 2)
Throughout this fraud, the agency that hired Ana Maria Pasare – Smart Education Group, didn’t know anything about these things. They told us:
” At our company, such allegations are taken very seriously, and an internal investigation is currently ongoing. We, of course, categorically deny any fraudulent practices within our company and welcome any scrutiny that can highlight any alleged impropriety that may have taken place without our knowledge.” company’s statement .
As a company that values its workers, we have given Ana Maria Pasare a phone number and an email address so that she can work professionally and ethically.
In the second part of the investigation the Newsroom Papers will discuss with the victims of this fraud, and we will publish information about other universities that were cheated by Ana Maria Pasare.
What we know so far is that Ana Maria Pasare has signed contracts with: Mont Rose College; UK Management College; The London School of Commerce; CECOS College London and GBS (Global Banking School).
MORE INVESTIGATIVE STORIES ABOUT UK EDUCATION FRAUD
what our colleagues investigated
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