According to reports, there is a growing trend of British men accepting payments of up to £10,000 to have their names added to the birth certificates of children belonging to migrant women.
A recent investigation by BBC Newsnight has revealed that scammers are utilising Facebook as a platform to find willing participants.
These individuals claim to have assisted thousands of women in securing UK citizenship for their children and obtaining residency for themselves.
Facebook, in response to the findings, informed the BBC that such content is explicitly prohibited according to their rules. To delve deeper into the issue, an undercover BBC researcher, assuming the identity of a pregnant woman residing in the UK unlawfully, engaged with individuals offering these services.
One of the agents, using the alias “Thai,” informed the researcher that he could arrange for several British men to pose as fake fathers. He presented a comprehensive package at a cost of £11,000. The undercover operative was introduced to a British man named Andrew, who would feign being the child’s father and receive £8,000 from the total fee.
If a migrant woman is residing illegally in the UK but gives birth to a child fathered by a British citizen or a man with indefinite leave to remain, the child automatically attains British citizenship. Subsequently, the mother can apply for a family visa, granting her the right to remain in the UK and pursue citizenship in due course.
In the previous year, a total of 4,860 family visas were granted to “other dependants,” encompassing individuals applying to stay in the UK as parents of British children. It should be noted that deliberately providing false information on a birth certificate is a criminal offense.
The Home Office assured the BBC that it has implemented measures to prevent and detect instances of immigration fraud involving falsified birth certificates. The investigation revealed that this illicit practice is prevalent in various migrant communities, including those from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka, and has been ongoing for many years.
The investigation further uncovered that these illegal activities were widely advertised on Vietnamese Facebook groups intended for jobseekers.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, stated that “the solicitation of adoptions or birth certificate fraud on Facebook” is strictly prohibited. The company pledged to continue removing content that violates their policies.
