June 10th 2026
Digital Care Hub has been made aware of a scam email targeting care providers. The message appears to be designed to steal login details for the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) Sponsor Management System.
Care providers who are part of the Sponsor Management System should avoid clicking links or opening attachments in unexpected emails, and access the Sponsor Management System only through the official website – https://www.gov.uk/sponsor-management-system.
The email (see image and message below) claims to be from the Home Office and includes a PDF attachment or link asking providers to enter login details for the online Sponsor Management System.
This message reads:
Sponsor Licence Update!
Dear Sponsor
Find attached PDF regarding your sponsor licence update.
Please review the document at your earliest convenience. Timely action will help ensure your licence remains compliant.
Yours sincerely
Home Office Compliance Unit
We have heard that some providers have had their SMS login taken over – giving criminals access to details about sponsored workers. In some cases, a provider’s Certificates have been assigned to desperate workers in return for large payments.
The scam can also cause additional work for providers who need to prove to UKVI that they did not accept the payments themselves. They will also be unable to sponsor new staff or renew existing sponsorships until UKVI have completed their investigation and reset the login details.
This is a particularly sophisticated and insidious scam – taking advantage of anxious overseas care workers and employers.
Digital Care Hub is in touch with the Department of Health and Social Care about this scam and we will update this alert when we know more.
Home Office advice on scams
The Home Office website, provides the following useful information on how they normally communicate with SMS account holders:
If you receive an unexpected email, call, or letter claiming to be from the Home Office, it may be a scam.
The Home Office will never contact you to ask you for, or to verify your SMS user ID or password. We will never provide you with a link or password with which to log into SMS.
If you have received an email or telephone call that doesn’t seem genuine, or you have concerns that your SMS account has been compromised, you must report it to the Home Office as soon as possible so that action can be taken to secure your account.
Contact us at [email protected] and refer to Fraud, tricks and scams: guidance – GOV.UK for advice.
What care providers should do
- Do not click links or open attachments in unexpected emails claiming to be from UKVI or the Home Office.
- Access the Sponsor Management System directly – not from a link in an email or attachment. https://www.gov.uk/sponsor-management-system
- Check recent account activity, including Certificates of Sponsorship requested, granted, withdrawn or assigned.
- Brief staff who monitor recruitment, HR, sponsorship, finance, IT and general inboxes.
- If login details may have been shared, change passwords immediately and follow your cyber incident process.
- Report the email to [email protected] and the UKVI helpdesk at the Home Office [email protected]
Updated 11 June 2026, 10am
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