UK Visa Portal website actively leaking passport data and selfie images

Published: 26/05/2026
| TechCrunch

The UK Visa Portal website is reportedly exposing the passports and selfie photos of individuals who used its services to obtain a UK immigration visa. TechCrunch learned of the security lapse from an anonymous source, who reported that at least 100,000 uploaded documents were exposed during the application process. TechCrunch confirmed the website as the source of the data leak and verified the authenticity of the files by contacting affected individuals.

The website is not connected to the UK government, and users have reported mistakenly paying a fee to this company instead of accessing the official GOV.UK website. The security vulnerability, however, remains unfixed, and the company lacks an official channel to report security issues or any public contact information for its management.

TechCrunch contacted the email address listed on the website to alert the company, but only received a response from the company's legal representatives and public relations firm. Despite requests to be put in touch with management to securely share the specific details, TechCrunch has received no response from executives. 


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