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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Moral dilemma: to report a blatant benefit thief?

61 replies

PopGoesTheWeasle · 28/09/2010 08:23

I don't like to think of myself as one to dob on others, but our neighbour is commiting such blatant benefit fraud it makes me sick. DH works bloody hard for a pitance and I'll be going back to work when DD is really young so we can keep paying the bills. Meanwhile, our lazy arsed neighbour is milking it, saying he's too ill to work but making a tidy living selling things he's made in his garage and wheeling and dealing on ebay. He's got 3 cars (one worth £10,000) when he barely even needs 1. Grrrr... Angry

OP posts:
gingernutlover · 28/09/2010 08:26

YANBU

one thing earning a little bit of cash on the side but quite another claiming benefits from sick pay and also working for a living.

I would report him - and if for any reason it is not as you think it is then he will be able to prove that wont he.

MrsC2010 · 28/09/2010 08:30

Depends what they class as 'work'? I don't know anything about benefits, where ebay fits etc. YANBU to be hacked off.

Original poster
PopGoesTheWeasle · 28/09/2010 08:36

Thanks. According to the benefits he's receiving he's allowed to earn something like £20 a week doing 'odd jobs'. £20 my arse - it's more like £400.

OP posts:
Miasma · 28/09/2010 08:39

What does he make in his garage ?

Tee2072 · 28/09/2010 08:39

Where is the moral dilemma? If he walked into a shop and robbed it and you had proof, you'd ring the police.

This is the same thing. He's stealing from all of us.

Report him.

Emo76 · 28/09/2010 08:40

Report them. Please. For the sake of honest folk everywhere.

DurhamDurham · 28/09/2010 08:46

Depends really, he's allowed to do "theraputic work" whilst claiming sickness benefit. His expensive car might be financed through the mobility part of DLA. I'd want to be very sure of my facts before I called and reported a neighbour.

Of course if you are sure then you would be right to report him.

Original poster
PopGoesTheWeasle · 28/09/2010 08:58

The moral dilemma is that until we realised what they were up to we had been spending quite a lot of time with them and thay've done us loads of favours.
He claims to have a bad back but the work he carries out is really quite physical.
The car is definitely a toy rather than necessity.

Thank you for the comments - think you've helped me make up my mind.

OP posts:
LadyBiscuit · 28/09/2010 09:12

My sister works very little and gets max rate disability but you might see her going for a swim. That doesn't mean she doesn't have a disability though which prevents her from working Hmm

Funny way to treat someone who has been kind to you too

spikeycow · 28/09/2010 09:15

So if you report him how does it make you moral? You have sneaked behind someones back who has done no harm to you. I know people who are getting extra and I don't give a crap.
I don't understand all this reporting lark. It means you sink to the same level.

spikeycow · 28/09/2010 09:16

"Report for the sake of honest folk". Folk who stab people in the back then smile to their faces? Nice.

shimmerysilverglitter · 28/09/2010 09:17

Oh mind your own business.

If he is doing something wrong or dishonest it will come back on him one way or another.

I agree with ladybiscuit and spikeycow.

spikeycow · 28/09/2010 09:22

They've done you loads of favours? I hope they find out it was you if you report them. What a nasty thing to do.

sarah293 · 28/09/2010 09:27

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Poogles · 28/09/2010 09:28

Why should they not be reported if they are breaking the law? Every time someone claims a benefit they are not entitled to it costs the honest people - those who pay their taxes and those who genuinely need benefits.

If we weren't paying out so much for people who did not need the help, there would be more money to help those that do.

How is benefit fraud any different to stealing cash out of my purse??

I work hard and pay (what seems to me) a fortune in tax. If that money is not going to where it should be, can I have it back? I think I deserve it more than someone who is claiming it dishonestly seeing as I actually earned it in the first place

(Sorry for the rant but benefit cheats really wind me up - can't believe people can defend them!)

Onetoomanycornettos · 28/09/2010 09:30

I would leave it up to their own conscience and they may get caught out pretty soon as all the disability claims are being reviewed, and staying on disability is much much harder now (a dodgy back and not a lot else may not be enough in the points system).

Plus I do agree that if they have helped you out a lot and want to stay friends with them, then telling on them, then keeping being friendly is pretty hypocritical.

sarah293 · 28/09/2010 09:34

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LadyBiscuit · 28/09/2010 09:37

Poogles - I am not defending benefit cheating. But I do believe that the OP hasn't got a clue whether this person is claiming benefits fraudulently or not and I know that my sister would be hugely distressed if one of her neighbours reported her because she hadn't given them her medical history.

She is not a GP and knowing that the man ebays from his garage doesn't make her one.

spiritmum · 28/09/2010 09:39

This doesn't sound cut and dried to me. Blatant benefit fraud is the kind where a woman claims to be on her own and gets benefits but actually has an earning dp living with her. This situation sounds far less cut and dried.

Selling stuff on Ebay - if he's auctioning items he will have no control as to how much they make. Do you know for a fact that he is making £400 a week? Even selling on BIN can be risky as you never know when things will sell or when it will be slow, esp. if what he sells aren't essential items.

It sounds to me like you are transferring your sorrow at returning to work into bitterness against this man.

Anenome · 28/09/2010 09:41

How do you know he makes that much? I don't think selling things on Ebay counts as fraud unless he's running a warehouse stocked with stuff. Why don't you try it yourself?

RandyRussian · 28/09/2010 09:42

I would think very carefully before informing in this situation.

Where Ebay is concerned I believe there is some sort of cutoff point (set by the taxman) above which you are judged to be running a business but below which it is classed as casual sales.

I don't know what this cutoff point is but if your neighbour is not exceeding it he is probably not doing anything wrong.

I would also examine motive in this case and see how much is caused by envy as opposed to righteous indignation.

Liz79 · 28/09/2010 09:44

there is selling odd bits on ebay and there is running a business from it, many people do. ebay counts as earnings. you have to pay vat/tax etc over a certain amountli

expatinscotland · 28/09/2010 09:46

I'd leave it. If he's on ESA, he'll either be re-assessed very soon or has been. And unless he's really really really ill, it'll get cut off anyway.

overthemill · 28/09/2010 09:51

if he does like i do on ebay which is sell stuff i already own because we are short of cash that is not 'working'. if he is selling stuff he makes as a hobby (like i might do with my tapestry kits which i love and have thought about selling off once made up to finance the next one) he is not 'working'. if he is running a business on ebay he is 'working'

i used to work for the DWP many years ago (in a former administration) and the fraud guys were horrible, nasty mean people who tried to catch out anybody just trying to make ends meet. Different when it was organised fraud.

I hate people 'fiddling' too but you don't truly know what he is doing or receiving so I would stay out of it

nottirednow · 28/09/2010 09:52

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