An article promoting Baden Bower appears on a fake Scotland edition of Forbes.
A PR-agency which appears to have links to fake overseas editions of Forbes is offering paid editorial placements in order to support US visa applications.
Following on from Press Gazette’s previous investigation into PR agency Baden Bower, four former employees of the company spoke out anonymously.
The employees explained that some of the paying clients of Baden Bower hope to secure article placements about them in order to qualify for EB1 skilled worker visas for the US, with hundreds of people using the service.
Immigrants are charged $2,000 for one published story, $4,500 for three and $6,000 for five on seemingly high-profile publications.
One former Baden Bower employee told Press Gazette the company produced between 200 and 600 articles a month for people from India, Afghanistan and the Middle East, aiming to help them secure EB1 skilled worker visas.
One of the ways potential immigrants to the US can establish “exceptional ability’ is via press coverage of their own achievements, used in their application with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Such visas are reserved for people such as outstanding academics and multinational executives, and required evidence can include “published material about you in professional or major trade publications or other major media”.
Publications on offer for paid placements by Baden Bower included: Forbes, The Guardian, International Business Times, OK and Elle, Rolling Stone UK, according to sales documents seen by the Press Gazette.
The sales materials promise articles with “no sponsorship or disclaimers” and “written by real journalists”.
Employees described the customers for this as typically being Indian IT professionals looking to work in the US, although there were said to be a wide range of nationalities using the service.
Baden Bower writes in the sales pack: “Journalist-written editorial coverage is what the criterion is for. The applicant did not write it, an editor decided to run it, and it sits in the outlet’s editorial section without a paid label.
“This is the only category Baden Bower places. A reporter or freelance journalist writes the story, the outlet’s editors review it, and it runs as editorial with a byline, date and permanent URL.”
An employee described the workflow saying: “So our writers, they were using large language models like ChatGPT or Perplexity or Claude. They’d write articles to establish the presence of these different clients online, because for visa applications you need to establish an online presence.
“Baden Bower would guarantee placement in those different publications, and as editors, our job was to not just make sure that they’re following deadlines, but also to edit out the AI tones from what they generated.”
The employee claimed that there were four senior editors, each with four writers working for them, with writers given bonuses if they produced more than 100 articles a month.
Most of the writers were in the Philippines, but others were in Africa and Eastern Europe – with many reportedly fired in summer 2025 to make way for fuller AI automation of the process.
Sales call with Baden Bower director
Press Gazette has obtained a recording of a sales call between a PR agency director and a Baden Bower salesman.
The Baden Bower employee said: “I don’t know if you’ve researched this, but we have the largest visa publicity agency in the world. Microsoft or Deloitte, or JP Morgan, and Envidia, when they relocate their employees from the United Kingdom, India, mostly India to the US. Australia, and apply them to work in the US, they use our service as a tool to get the media coverage for those specialists. Because that’s part of their application.”
Employees said that the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) began to put red flags on certain publications due to the high volume of articles.
An employee said: “They started to wonder, there’s this random Indian guy that has worked in IT for 20 years, and why is he appearing on the Associated Press?”
Baden Bower said in a statement: “Baden Bower has no visa department. Baden Bower has no employees responsible for EB-1 clients. Baden Bower does not operate an EB-1 application service.
“In most cases, we do not know whether publicity purchased by a client will later be used in a visa application.”
(Baden Bower’s own website states: “Baden Bower is an EB1-A PR Agency that guarantees published materials about you in Forbes, Business Insider and other prominent, high traffic websites.”)
Who is behind Baden Bower?
The agency’s headquarters are in the British Virgin Islands and many of its staff work in the Philippines. Payments from the UK are to a company called Review Rumble, headquartered in the British Virgin Islands.
Australian entrepreneur Jeremy Levitt is the co-founder of Baden Bower and boasts on Linkedin of “revolutionizing the PR industry with a guaranteed publicity model”.
He said: “The firm has achieved remarkable growth, serving over 2,600 clients across five continents and securing over 10,000 pieces of coverage for clients on major platforms like Forbes, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur.”
Baden Bower responds
Baden Bower’s CEO AJ Ignacio told Press Gazette: “We strongly dispute any suggestion that Baden Bower creates or operates ‘fake Forbes sites’.
“Baden Bower is an intermediary between clients and publishers. We work with approximately 1,985 publications globally. We do not own or control those publications, and we do not have visibility into every publisher’s current licensing, trademark or commercial arrangements at any given time. A publication being available through our network does not mean Baden Bower owns, operates or created it.
“If you are alleging that a specific publication is operating without a required licence or authorisation, please identify the publication and provide the evidence supporting that allegation. We will investigate it directly with the publisher.
“On the visa point, Baden Bower does not sell visas, immigration approvals or guaranteed immigration outcomes. We sell PR and media publication services. Some clients purchase publicity because media coverage may be one form of evidence they choose to submit as part of an immigration application. Baden Bower does not determine whether that evidence satisfies any immigration requirement. That is a matter for the applicant, their advisers and the relevant US immigration authorities.
“It would therefore be inaccurate to characterise Baden Bower as ‘selling links for visas’.”
One disgruntled British client, Bosworth Acres-Debenham, showed Press Gazette correspondence where Baden Bower had not refunded money paid for what they beleived was a “guaranteed” podcast placement after four months.
The company did not reply to multiple emails – having previously demanded payment in advance for the services, via bank transfer to Review Rumble.
A fake Forbes Liechtenstein website carried an article promoting Baden Bower in which company leader AJ Ignacio said: “We’re not just securing press coverage. We’re delivering commercial outcomes that directly impact our clients’ bottom line. Our Global Recognition Award validates what our clients already know: we’re fundamentally disrupting how PR value is measured and delivered.”
The article has been deleted but is still visible via Webarchive.org .
Baden Bower’s homepage included citations like “ Global PR agency crowned World’s Most Disruptive PR Agency”, which linked through to an article on the fake Lichtenstein edition of Forbes. Another Baden Power homepage citation quote linked through to a largely AI-generated Philippines edition of Fast Company and a third linked through to an article on an apparently fake German edition of Vanity Fair.
Press Gazette has now uncovered more fake editions of the US newsbrand.
Forbes Bahrain , Forbes Scotland , Forbes 40 Under 40 , Forbes EU and Forbes Denmark are packed with seemingly PR-generated promotional content. Forbes Bahrain and Scotland both host several articles promoting the services of Baden Bower.
The sites feature seemingly fake contributors , whose copy appears to be entirely AI generated (according to Pangram)with images generated by AI, according to checks using IdentifAI.
A Forbes spokesperson said: “We can confirm these are not Forbes websites. Our team is looking into this further and taking appropriate action.”
Fake sites Forbes Zone and Forbes Baltics have been retired, but are still visible via Wayback Machine here .
Baden Bower said in a statement: “Articles about Baden Bower appearing across our publisher network are explained by the fact that we use our own PR network to promote our own business. Such coverage does not establish ownership, control or involvement in the operation or licensing of those publications.”
Note: This article was updated at 4.30pm on 10 September 2026 to reflect requested clarifications from Baden Bower.
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