In a hair-raisingly elaborate scheme, a woman in Britain has been arrested and accused of using an “array of wigs” to pose as at least 14 people and take their U.K. citizenship tests for them.
The Home Office, the government department that handles crime and immigration, said the 61-year-old woman, whose name was not released, helped the applicants — both male and female — gain “an unfair advantage” in the compulsory "Life in the UK" tests.
Investigators issued an arrest warrant for the woman Monday at an address in north London after they received a tip alleging she attended test centers around the country from June 2022 to August 2023, using fake IDs and multiple disguises to avoid detection.
Officers seized “several false documents and an array of wigs alleged to have been used in the fraudulent scheme” at the address, they said.
The woman remains in custody, the Home Office said.
Immigration enforcement inspector Phillip Parr told NBC News’ international partner Sky News that a “complex investigation” had “put a stop to this dangerous scheme.”
The woman “is believed to have orchestrated a premeditated plan to avoid detection,” he said, adding that he believed her main motive was financial gain.
The Life in the UK test is a compulsory requirement for those applying to become naturalized British citizens. The Labour government introduced it in 2005 when Tony Blair was prime minister.
The test consists of 24 questions aimed at “proving the applicant has sufficient knowledge of British values, history and society,” the Home Office said. Questions cover a wide variety of topics relating to their adopted home, including the 14th century literature of Geoffrey Chaucer, the U.K.'s first curry house and the Grand National horse race.
Last year, a study found that only 42% of British citizens would be able to pass the test without studying.
The Home Office warned on Facebook that fraudsters’ completing the test for others could “lead to people wrongly being granted the right to remain” in the country, putting “the public at risk.”
