The care-worker route being closed has not stopped people selling it — it has made the selling more aggressive, because the victims can no longer easily check. This is, right now, one of the biggest immigration frauds targeting Nigerians. Read this before you send anyone money.

The scripts, and why each is a lie

‘Care home sponsorship, Lagos to London — £8,000.’ The overseas care route is closed by the Immigration Rules (SW 6.1B). No fee reopens it. The ‘CoS’ is either fake or for a code that cannot be granted from Nigeria.
‘We have a certificate of sponsorship reserved for you.’ A CoS cannot lawfully be sold to a worker at all (Part 3), and a real sponsor doesn't cold-message strangers on WhatsApp.
‘Pay for the CQC-registered employer slot.’ Real CQC-registered employers don't sell slots; the CQC register is public and free to search.
‘Switch to another code after you arrive.’ You can't arrive — that's the whole point. There is no visa to arrive on.

The tell is always the same: money to a person or agency in exchange for a job or a sponsorship, upfront. Every legitimate step on this route — the NMC application, the visa application, the fee — is paid to an institution, on an official website, and only after a real employer has chosen you. If a human is holding out a job for cash, it's a scam, full stop.

What to do instead: if you're a registered nurse or doctor, the real route in the rest of this walkthrough costs a fraction of what a scammer asks and actually works. If you're a care worker, the honest answer is that this UK door is shut — look at the other routes in this catalogue rather than paying someone to pretend it isn't.