Aspiring university students say they have been lured into paying thousands for fraudulent advice on studying abroad in Australia from a company advertising "experienced education and migration agents".

The clients say Future Care allocated an agent to handle their student visas, but that person charged them fees for time and applications that failed by design.

Future Care Consultants' website says its "team consists of Experienced Migration Agents (MARA) and Qualified Education Agent Counsellors (QEAC), facilitating international students who wish to study overseas".

In Australia, migration agents, unlike education agents, must be registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA).

But the OMARA said it had no registered migration agents associated with Future Care.

When asked about this, Future Care clarified it was an education consultancy and "does not itself provide migration advice or act as a registered migration agent".

"Where migration assistance is required, students are referred to independent registered migration agents who engage directly with the client," it said.

Consultancy staff assisted with visas

According to the federal education department, education agents, "unless they are also registered migration agents, cannot lawfully provide visa advice or assist with visa applications".

Email chains shared with the ABC show Future Care assisted with visas, as well as assuring clients that one of their agents would manage their cases.

Students paid thousands of dollars directly to the man, Omer Bin Rasheed, for their applications, insurance and visa appeal proceedings. 

But when some of those applications failed due to Australian authorities not receiving the application fees from Mr Rasheed, students say Future Care "disowned" the agent, and told the students the matter was between them and Mr Rasheed as they "chose to pay him directly".

Future Care told the ABC that Mr Rasheed was an individual "unrelated" to the company, despite the phone number he uses being advertised directly on the company's promotional material as far back as 2022.

Students felt 'reassured'

Miftah Ud Din said he came to Australia in 2023 to "explore the world" and had worked as an Uber driver and in security before his now-job as a solar panel technician in Launceston, Tasmania.

But things went downhill when the 28-year-old wished to further his studies and approached an agent who was working for Future Care Consultants, who gave him preliminary, free advice on university courses.

Then, Mr Ud Din said Future Care's business manager, Shabeel Nawab, initiated a group WhatsApp call with that agent — Omer Bin Rasheed — and "officially allocated [Mr Rasheed] my case".

Mr Ud Din then followed what, at the time, seemed like innocuous guidance.

"As someone coming from any other country, we are not aware of how those things go, so I wanted to go with someone who is professional," Mr Ud Din said.

"They've got a lot of positive reviews on Google, so I had no doubt that I was making the [right] choice," he said.

After the group call, Mr Ud Din said a different representative from Future Care Consultants named Rabia contacted him, saying she was processing his application. 

"He [Mr Rasheed] said don't do anything otherwise there can be issues, and rest assured your visa will be filed by her before Monday evening," Mr Ud Din said.

In an email chain provided to the ABC, Future Care's employee Rabia writes to Mr Ud Din saying she has filled out his application.

"If everything is accurate, please provide confirmation to proceed by replying to this email," she wrote.

'Document handling' was at student's request, Future Care says

Future Care denied handling student visas and said "Ms Rabia did not provide migration advice and was not authorised to provide migration advice". 

In Australia, it is illegal to charge fees for handling or helping with a visa application if you are not a registered migration agent or lawyer, which Future Care Consultants says it does not directly employ.

Then, on Mr Rasheed's instruction, Mr Ud Din transferred $1,214 for insurance into Mr Rasheed's personal bank account.

He also paid $200 into a Future Care account, which Mr Rasheed said was "for visa lodgement".

But the application was rejected, said Mr Ud Din, due to legitimacy concerns.

'Assistance' shifts to appealing rejected application

Mr Rasheed then said he would help the aspiring student lodge an appeal.

He requested Mr Ud Din transfer him $4,330 more into his personal bank account.

This was a $750 handling fee and $3,580 to lodge Mr Ud Din's appeal with the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART).

Mr Ud Din was assured everything was going smoothly — until he realised it wasn't.

"I then came to know, back in summer 2025, I had an email from ART saying that 'your payment didn't go through'," he said.

Mr Ud Din and three other students who contacted the ABC shared messages showing at least three separate Future Care representatives were pushing Mr Rasheed's management of their cases.

One said he became "really stressed out" when Future Care "disowned" Mr Rasheed when he complained.

"I got worried about my visa, my status in Australia, and I was traumatised totally because it's my hard-earned money, and I'm not very financially stable," he said.

The students say they were not told that Mr Rasheed was not part of Future Care.

Mr Rasheed was using a phone number advertised by Future Care Consultants on Facebook and Instagram as early as 2022, as a way for students to get in touch.

"After he [Future Care's Shabeel Nawab] confirmed Omer as part of their team and responsible for my case, I reasonably relied on Omer's instruction."

Future Care Consultants told the ABC that "any contact number appearing on social media does not constitute an authorised channel for payments or official financial instructions".

The students say they reported their lost funds to Future Care Consultants and various authorities, but have had no progress with getting their money back.

Rasheed is 'unrelated' to Future Care, company says

Future Care Consultants denied allegations of fraudulent or misleading behaviour, saying Mr Ud Din made payments "to an unrelated individual's personal account without any instruction or approval from Future Care Consultants".

"Mr Rasheed was associated with a separate offshore entity in a limited referral capacity and did not hold any official position within the Australian company," it said.

It also said it reported Mr Rasheed and stopped using him.

The ABC contacted a Facebook account in the name of Omer Bin Rasheed, who denied allegations that he was involved in scams of students, and suggested his identity had been stolen.

But the ABC verified Mr Rasheed as the person students were referred to by matching screenshots of conversations between the parties.

Mr Rasheed told the ABC he was never "directly" employed by Future Care, having only done an internship with them — which Future Care denied — and then he left Australia in 2021.

"I know owners of Future Care well because I did an internship with them back in 2020, and very occasionally I refer them students, but no direct employment with them," he said.

He said he had "never" been a migration agent or an education agent.

"I advise students only limited to my knowledge but [have] not provided direct services to them," he said.

He said Future Care's clients were now chasing him for lost money, but he denied ever being involved in taking payments, suggesting Future Care may be using his name without his involvement.

"God knows better who scammed who. I was never involved in any activity; how can I? [I'm] not a migration agent, not [an] education agent."

Mr Rasheed shared screenshots with the ABC of a chat in which a student threatens to report him. 

That matches the chat logs provided by that student to the ABC, in which Mr Rasheed requests payments.

'Nowhere to turn' for victims

Angela Chan, head of migration at Pryor Tzannes & Wallis legal firm, said there was a need for more regulation of education agents in Australia.

"We hear about quite a few students who fall victim to people who are working as education agents, but providing migration advice," Ms Chan said.

Ms Chan said shortcomings in regulation could leave overseas students feeling "left unprotected by the legal system in Australia because they have nowhere really to turn".

"It [the course required for education agents] has very little to do with integrity, professional conduct, and it basically authorises the company to get certified to say that ... they are certified education agents," Ms Chan said.

The federal education department said education providers are required "to take responsibility for the actions of their education agents and to ensure agents act honestly, ethically and in the best interests of students". 

"Providers must not knowingly engage agents who provide immigration advice without appropriate authorisation" a spokesperson said.

A department of Home Affairs spokesperson said that "any person who gives unlawful immigration assistance in Australia should be reported using the Border Watch Online Report on the department's website".