A BBC investigation found in October last year that John Phillips had been charging £480 a time in "accreditation fees" from jobseekers.

Last October a number of victims of the fraud told the BBC they had reported Phillips – who now appears to be operating under the name Roy Parker – to the authorities, while BBC London said it was aware of several people who have recently lost out to the scam.

While Phillips is alleged to have been carrying out the scam using various names since at least 2012, the Met Police told the BBC they were not aware of any investigation being carried out into the dealings of Phillips.

Action Fraud, the UK's national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre, said the reports of fraud were being assessed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.

When the BBC challenged Phillips for a second time he said he had nothing to say and did not want to talk to the BBC.