Criminal gangs running 'fake dad' asylum scam, whistleblowers warn
Single mothers with British citizenship are being pressured or bribed into registering asylum seekers as their newborn baby’s father on birth certificates to help bolster right-to-stay claims
Criminal gangs are exploiting a new loophole to secure asylum for some of those coming into the country illegally on small boats, LBC can reveal.
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Known as a “fake dad” scam, single mothers with British citizenship are being pressured or bribed into registering asylum seekers as their newborn baby’s father on birth certificates to help bolster right-to-stay claims.
The Home Office Immigration Enforcement Team has already made multiple arrests and prosecutions for the offence of paternity abuse, with some offenders receiving up to six years in jail.
But LBC has spoken to several sources who claim hundreds of cases have slipped through the net over the last two years.
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One woman who works in a birth registry office in the Midlands said: “The first time I noticed it was when a couple came in with a newborn baby. They didn't speak the same language, and they were living hundreds of miles away - one in Manchester and one in north London.
“I asked the mum if everything was all right, and the man answered. I asked him if he could tell me his partner's name, and he couldn't. I flagged it to my boss, but he said you just have to allow it, as we can't prove it. But then this started happening on a weekly basis.
“All the women were very quiet and didn't say much. They weren't looking me in the eye. The men didn't let them speak. It was obvious to me that this wasn't right.”
This testimony is almost identical to that of two other council workers in two separate councils in London we’ve spoken to. The three whistleblowers are not connected.
Being registered as the father of a child does not automatically grant the right to stay in the UK for an asylum seeker, but it improves the chances.
Law enforcement officials have told LBC that the criminal gangs behind the “sham marriages” scandal - where asylum seekers are fraudulently married to a UK resident to legally stay here - are running the operation.
Our revelations come after The Times reported on Monday that only one in 100 asylum applications is genuine.
LBC has spoken to a former Metropolitan Police senior detective who was seconded to the Home Office Immigration Crime Team.
Neil Lancaster, a former Detective Sergeant at the Met, said: “One per cent might be over-egging it, but it’s not far off.”
Mr Lancaster says an “astonishing amount” of fraudulent claims were approved during his time working in the Home Office, which he says were due to cost and time pressures.
“We still have a huge backlog and we only have 2,000, let's be honest, poorly trained, under-resourced people in the Home Office that are engaged in processing these applications,” he said.
“And, you know, if someone's on their back saying 'you've got to make these decisions’ it's easier to say yes because then there's no appeal and it goes away. And, you know, you tick a box and move on to the next one.”
The former officer said organised criminal gangs could be working with legal firms on the “fake dad” scam, and is lucrative for both.
He added: “The more successful you are as a law firm, as an immigration advice centre, the more customers you get. The more customers you get, the more money you make.
“This is all about money. There is huge amounts of money to be made in this job. I'll give you an example - the big case I did against a corrupt solicitor in East London, his proceeds of crime seizure was over £2 million.”
The Home Office said it is actively tackling paternity abuse through investigation, passport seizures and criminal enforcement.
When asked about the approval rate of Asylum claims, a spokesperson said: “These claims are not representative of the decision process.
“Our work has seen the asylum grant rate fall from 77 per cent in 2022 to 38 per cent this year, and we maintain robust processes to test credibility and identify fraudulent claims, including those related to paternity abuse.
“The cost of refusing a claimant is not a factor within any decision-making process. In the last year alone, 93 per cent of decisions across a sample of cases were found to have been correctly decided.”