Migration Advisory Service review: Visa scam 64

I have also had the same problem and if you look on endole.co.uk you will find that they are a virtual company. I also checked with MARA (Migrant Agent Registry Authority in Australia and they have never heard of this company. Stay well clear of this company, they are a SCAM!

I am currently using this company to process a visa for me to emigrate to australia it has worried me reading this i have had contact with staff there a girl called laura and one called Nicole also a james clarke who returned my call each time i rang please let me know if there has been any more progress

We have been in touch since February with funnily enough Laura, Nicole and James... they seem to be the only employees! oh my god ! paid them £400 which was strangely done through paypal an now they demanding the rest of their fee of £1700. Found all this out today that this is a SCAM when I tried to make a bank transfer to them and my bank luckily wouldn't let the transaction go through as the account had been reported as a scam account. All day Saturday and Sunday I had Nicole emailing me stating that the duty accounts team had checked and the account was fine. They will not be getting another penny from us. However I am going to the police tomorrow as they do have scanned copies of all of our passports and my cv. I am completely shocked after reading all there is about this so called company, just extremely glad I found out now before id paid the full amount.
They are never available to speak to when I call receptionist just takes a message and states they are either in a meeting or in training. I always get an email response and have a few phone calls and a lengthy conversation with "Laura" about my job and were we ant to emigrate to etc. I feel sick!

Leanne Teeling: seen here as lou-anne33
Dear Leanne, your comments have been noted and we have taken the unusual step of replying publicly. You activated your case in Feb 2015 with a £400 payment. Your total case fee was £2, 100. We agreed after speaking with you that you could take a payment break of two months because you were in an IVA. We then did not hear from you until September 2015 at which point having returned from a holiday to Cap Verde you were once again not in a position to move forwards. We have had to take the regrettable decision to close your case.

I can say categorically that we have been in contact before September! I have proof in black and white of this, we were in a position to move forward however the account details provided were not accepted by our bank as you're account had been reported to them as a scam account and also can I just say that we have now sort legal advice and would say we are happy that the case Is now closed as from speaking to other parties it is clear that it was never a viable account/case to have. I am deeply shocked and saddened that this has happened as Laura filled us with confidence ans seemed really genuine. The first payment we made I'm glad was only for £400 as paypal also tell us that it has been flagged up with them too regarding a scam and now the account has been locked down. The fact you have chosen to break client confidentiality proves to me that we have done the right thing. I'm clearly not the only person who has had this experience from the above posts.

Have just found out -too late- about the above fraudsters. They have taken nearly £3000 from me and now refuse to answer my calls or emails. I have filled out a police fraud investigation form but don't hold out hope of getting back any money. Stay well clear of them. They still advertise as Teaching Australia on their website.

We too have been scammed and the feeling of having a dream shattered is sickening to say the least. We have only clocked on over the last few weeks and only because I duped Nicole into replying saying that I wanted to pay for a test to see if her email still worked. But when questioned what was going on no reply. We too have reported them to the Freud action. Does anybody know how or if this Alastair markham or Fiona markham is still connected to the company and what legal advise has anybody sort please? Can you proceed with a small claims court?

We are the same. Paid them £2400 and now all numbers, website and emails are gone. Has anyone here had any luck from the police? Also people said that their bank would not allow the transfer as this was reported as a fraudulent bank account, do you have their bank details as I want to see if they are the same as the one they supplied me.

The bank details i have for them are
Lloyds Bank Plc.
Emigrate Australia
Sort Code: 30-16-41
Account Number - [protected]
Think I'll got to the bank and try and get my 2400 back if it listed as a fraudulent account.

Hi,
The bank details they provided to me were different.
Lloyds Bank Plc
The Immigration Advisory Service
Sort Code 30-66-76
Account [protected]

Does anyone have an actual working telephone number for them?

No. I had 2 numbers but neither work now and emails are returned undelivered. Report them to the police it's the only way to try and stop them keep doing this to people.

I've been in touch with Watchdog so.hopefully they'll take up the story and warn others.

Hello, Has anyone had any luck yet with reporting to police/fraud/action fraud? I realise some of the comments are fairly recent but just in case or any update, would be grateful.
Also, has anyone tried the Bank Street, Canary Wharf address? Guessing another dummy address but its still showing listed and on google maps, yelp etc.
Thanks,

Hi, not heard about the Canary Wharf address? I lodged a complaint with the police 3 weeks ago and am waiting for a reply but HMRC are looking into Alistair Markham for me as I believe him and his wife are on their radar.

I have also been dealing with this company since January this year but after struggling to get in touch with them this week, I have only just found this thread. I'm obviously as gutted as every-one else. I have paid them a considerable amount of money too. I was originally dealing with Emma Hamilton from January until July and then when I tried to chase something up in August I was told she had left and was directed to Nicole Ridgely and James too. Now Nicole's e-mail is down, the switchboard number I have is for a different business and both Nicole's and James's mobile numbers say they are switched off :-( The only thing that seems to work is Nicole's direct line but it is permanently on voicemail and no-one is getting back to me. I have just reported it to my bank this morning but would like to keep in touch with others to hopefully build a case together if any-one is up for that?

I have the following phone numbers for them, does any-one else's match?
Switch board [protected] (this is now a different business)!
Nicole Direct Dial [protected]
Nicole Mobile [protected]
James Mobile [protected]

They also gave me the following bank details back in January:
Lloyds Bank plc
Sort Code 30-66-76
Account Number [protected]

Then told me they changed banks in September (should have raised concerns with hindsight) :-(
Sort Code 40-51-78
Account Number [protected]

I have been dealing with this company since January 2015 and have only just been struggling this week to get hold of any-one and just found these complaints yesterday :-( From Jan until July I was dealing with a lady named Emma Hamilton. I have tonnes of correspondence through e-mail with her but left her a voicemail in July and received no call back. I finally managed to get in touch with a lady named Nicole on the 4th Sept by phone who told me Emma had left and James would be taking over my case! I have spoken to both Nicole and James and continued the process right up until this week when I have finally struggled to get in touch with them. Now Nicole's e-mail is down, her direct line still has a voicemail but both hers and James's mobiles are permanently switched off.

Hello everyone I'm unfortunately in the same boat as all of you I have payed them £2700 and was dealing with Nicole, I managed to speak to her 3 weeks ago and I even got upset on the phone and she swore to me all was ok and she would keep me updated more frequently she's jus been so busy in meetings and was currently on "holiday" but decided to chase my case up for me, I feel so silly For getting myself into this

Hi, thanks for the updates. Will post update shortly as we've been trying to track down this alistair markham too, looks like he has been running the scams for years with a whole web of companies, addresses, directors etc. Huge web of lies by looks of it, but would recommend everyone who is having issues check their banks etc for other fraud - it looks like the fraud might not just be limited to the visa/applications etc. May be at risk for bank/cards/credit etc too linked to the same thing...better safe than sorry.

This company has now gone. Please be aware that the staff members you have all been talking too are not involved in this scam and have also been ripped off by Alistair and Fiona and are now jobless and have not been paid their final salary. The last known whereabouts of Alistair and Fiona is in Sotogrande, Spain.

Can I please urge every-one on this thread to lodge a complaint with the police if you haven't already done so. They will only investigate if there are enough complaints. I logged mine last week. I am going to contact them by phone within the next week or so to see if they have enough complaints to look into this. I have a friend of mine on the case looking into bank details etc (there is always a trail), I am not going to let this lie but we all need to push for an investigation together. If you haven't already done so please report online at actionfraud.police.uk or phone [protected]. I will be keeping on top of this on this thread and the other thread about this company. Lets all stick together, you never know...

Jukes36, sadly I think every-one who has been disgustingly scammed are aware that this company has now gone. May I please ask how you know about the staff members? And how long ago the last known where a bouts of the Markhams is? Is that recent? Thanks.

We just found this site and have wondered awhile about this company.
Lost a lot of money and time planning on a move which isn't seem to happen soon.

I found their face books, Alastair & Fiona markham's that is.
They live in Gibraltar as someone said.
I'm uploading their photos if anyone wants to send them a personal message via Facebook. Search for their names.
This is what they look like, If anyone cares.

Petgyll, I can't locate them on Facebook. How did you find them. How do their names appear? I am going to re contact action fraud and advise them of this but I need to find them too. Have you reported it to the police yet?

I searched their names Alastair Markham & Fiona Markham & found Alastair with a profile pic of their child & fionas pic was with her & their child. I saw on fionas profile, a photo she uploaded which had a comment from someone who lived close to Gibraltar also their child has a Facebook which had a "moved to Gibraltar status" we are going to the police tomorrow since we need to involve Interpol since we live in Sweden.

https://m.facebook.com/fifi.lulla?tsid=0.8708275062963367&source=typeahead

https://m.facebook.com/alistairm12?tsid=0.43455911823548377&source=typeahead

I'm not sure if this works. Tried linking their Facebook pages

Still can't find Alastair but I think I've found Fiona. Is this her?

I think I've found him too! You can't see anything on his profile though.

Yes, that's who I was looking at! What are the chances that she is married to someone named Alastair Markham & both have the same daughter as profile pic.. Must be them!
I hope this helped! Seems strange that they're just out there and living their lives...
I thought maybe "nicole" and "James" could be them? They posed as those names/employes to gel make their case or something? Makes me so mad :(

LinsJL100 I know Nicole as she's a friend and can confirm that she is not acting as Fiona. I know nothing of James, sorry.

Hi, iv just discovered this forum, IV just finished reading the last comment, our story is identical to a lot of your stories, only difference is our payments were paid through PayPal. We have contacted fraud squad, companies house, watchdog and our next step is the police. We have paid out thousands and our case started September 2013! Like a comment on here we Al need to stick together and try to get to the bottom of it.
Kind regards Clare

I have also been a victim of this fake company. We are completely gutted.

thank you bob johnson for bringing to my esteemed attebtion the peoole here i asked them and tild then that i could relkease 20, 000, 000, 000 dollar for them but they kept saying no i so glad you see that you say here because it wastes lest time and effort in trying to track down these people if they have no interest in [protected] i mean who has no interest in that kind of dollar i beg you makebe bob if you want to take a little slicce then you can make contact me to find out ho i beg you i cannot spare all this monies myself you know

oh my oh gosh lets take this one and r a p e it

I reported my scam to Action Fraud and the police are investigating. I agree with all the previous posts about not letting them get away with it. I too have viewed their facebook profiles and it is frustrating seeing them living their lives with our money. Everyone MUST report them to the police so they take this crime seriously. I also reported them to HMRC fraud department for possible tax evasion. I believe they are reading all these comments, as I received a threatening email from their 'legal advisor' just before they disappeared saying they would take me to court for slander if they saw any more negative comments about their company / directors posted on forums such as this. I am this week emailing local newspapers in Gibralter to see if they could get an investigative journalist onto this story as it may be of interest to the Gibralter media. Anything that will bring them both into the spotlight so they can be prosecuted is a good thing.

UPDATE - look at the links

do a domain search on markham. makes for interesting reading., .., all different names and addresses and more people commenting they have been done over. why the f did i trust this lot.. some more pictures found swell... here they claim to be MARA regulated! misrepresentation

88 tilehousestreet hitchin (bedfordshire police)
lower stondon? (bedforedshire police)

Website: emigrateaustralia.co.uk
Title: Emigrate Australia - The UKs Top Emigration Consultancy
Description: Emigrate to Australia with the UK's #1 Emigrate Australia Experts. MARA Regulated Con

Domain Age: 2 Years, 26 Days
Website Speed: Slow
Website Value: $251.99

Organisation: 3rd Floor
Owner: Fiona Prevett
Owner Address: 14 Hanover Street
Owner City: London
Owner Postcode: W1S 1YH
Owner Country : United Kingdom
Website Location : United Kingdom
http://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/emigrateaustralia.co.uk

and one is mr markham name
http://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/emigrate-australia.com

Website: emigrate-australia.com

Domain Age: 1 Years, 340 Days
Website Speed: Very Fast

Organisation: Alistair Markham
Owner: Alistair Markham
Owner Address: Flat 3 88 Tilehouse Street
Owner City: Hitchin
Owner Postcode: SG5 2DU
Phone Number: +44.[protected]
Phone Type: mobile: Vodafone Ltd
Email:

http://www.netmums.com/northherts/local/view/support-groups/antenatal-postnatal-support/physis-therapy-and-counselling-1

I actually had quite a nice service from these guys over a year ago. It was tough you know, really tough going about all the paperwork and I must say that my consultant was brilliant she even helped with my university who wasnt too forthcoming with the information that i needed. i got my anmac skills assessmeent and i got my visa in the end for PR no less and to be honest i am very very happy with things. i find it difficult to see the logic in some of these 'complaints' maybe i dont know maybe you dont pass skills assessment and you want to blame people i dont know. sometimes you know australia only open their door to people with the righ qualifications and if you try and lie on your qualifcations YOU WILL BE FOUND OUT always. dont even try study, study and get EXPERIENCE. i class my consultant now as my friend. this feels like an attack on my friend and i dont want to detract anytuing from you but it makes me very offeneded to see these things. anyhow i dont see any names fro the people i used above but i did use this company and i just have to say that i was happy with them, i trust them and they become friends after my visa was granted.

some of these comments make me feel SICK s a human being how dare you say stuff like this on line it dosent matter what you feel when you all agree and encourage these things it is like trolling. really sick paresh you need to be taken away to an institution at once i hope i never see you because i will fear for my family and my friends