Fake 'UK Visa Portal' is leaking passport photos, selfies of over 100,000 applicants: Check details

 

A website operating under the name UK Visa Portal has been publicly exposing its users' sensitive personal documents, and despite being made aware of the problem, no member of its management has acted to fix it.

The site charges applicants a fee to assist with UK immigration visa applications. According to a report by TechCrunch, it has been leaking passport scans and selfie photographs submitted by users during the sign-up process, with at least 100,000 documents believed to be accessible. Several affected individuals confirmed their details matched what was exposed online.

Making matters worse, the site has no affiliation with the UK government. A number of users have said they paid fees to the platform believing it was the official GOV.UK service, a confusion that has left them both out of pocket and with their identity documents now sitting in an unsecured corner of the internet.

A company that couldn't be reached and didn't fix the problem

Attempts to alert UK Visa Portal about the breach hit a wall almost immediately. The site lists no security disclosure channel, no management names, and no direct line to anyone in a position to act on the issue.

The only available contact was a general customer support inbox. Given that the exposed data included passports and biometric photographs, sharing technical specifics through an unverified general inbox carried its own risks — so those details were withheld pending a response from someone in leadership.

What came back was not from the company at all, but from its purported legal representatives and a public relations firm. A follow-up request to be connected directly with management received no reply.

The leak has not been fixed.

What users should know

Anyone who has submitted documents through UK Visa Portal should be aware that their passport and biometric data may have been publicly accessible for an unknown period of time.

It is also worth clarifying: using a third-party service to apply for UK immigration authorisation is not a requirement. Applications can be made directly through the UK government's official website at no additional cost, and that remains the safest and most reliable route.