Nurse cheated of Rs 18L in UK visa fraud

Surat: A 37-year-old nurse was cheated of Rs 18.4 lakh in a UK visa fraud.
The complainant, Iffat Kapadiya, works as a nurse in a private hospital in Surat. From 2009 to 2012, she went to the UK on a student visa and worked as a care worker in the UK during that period. After returning to India, she married and also gave birth to a child.
She was planning to shift to the UK with her family. She came across an advertisement on social media offering a UK work visa. She contacted a person named Mohammad Akif Tarik Gaur, who identified himself as being from the Mumbai-based AB Consultants. He also made the victim talk to his wife, Vafiya Gaur.
Gaur came to meet the victim at Surat's Marriott Hotel in Dec 2023 and offered her a job with a salary of 2,100 pounds per month, with only 38.5 working hours a week.
Gaur again met the victim at the same hotel in April 2024 and checked her documents. He offered her a sponsorship letter from a UK company and asked for Rs 18.4 lakh as fees for the visa. Between May and July 2024, she paid the money to Gaur.
However, the victim got her passport back after she completed the visa process. When she complained to Gaur, he assured her of the visa with a delay of a couple of months. When Kapadiya enquired with the UK embassy, she came to know that her passport was banned for 10 years.
When she told this to Gaur, he gave a cheque of Rs 12 lakh to the victim, which bounced. As Gaur kept giving excuses for returning the money, she finally filed a complaint with Lalgate police.