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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

This is going to upset you:outrageous benefit cheats.

128 replies

GabbyLoggon · 15/10/2010 13:18

The bizarre benefits cheats who are caught on film make me laugh.

You will have seen the following:

The one filmed running in a marathon and staring at the camera.

The older bloke playing football very vigorously.

The recent one driving a van whilst claiming
incapacity.

The running linesman doing a good job on incapacity.

The golfer playing a nifty round.

OP posts:
quietplease · 15/10/2010 20:54

I know a member of the landed gentry who has three children at a very famous public school but claims all manner of benefits by taking advantage of tax loopholes. All perfectly legal.

He lives in a 9 bedroomed house in Surrey, has no mortgage and drives a new Range Rover.

I kid you not.

sarah293 · 16/10/2010 09:45

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Theincrediblesulk1 · 16/10/2010 10:17

Yep i am sure! i know her and i know the kid. and i know the whole story too, i also know she takes him to the fun fir, surrounded by strobe lighting, and guess what no worry of fitting at all! no one has ever seen one, including her live in partner.

sarah293 · 16/10/2010 10:21

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Theincrediblesulk1 · 16/10/2010 10:35

well they did, i am telling you, he is "light sensitive" actually. Also allegedly has adhd, aspergers, foreign language syndrome and a whole range of problems. All made up by a very sick woman! he is supposed to fit over 20 times a day, but when left with family members never given any instructions or meds and no one has ever ever seen him fit! only her if her and boyfriend have an argument and he goes out!

Ps only 60 people in the world have ever been diagnosed with foreign language syndrome ever! and guess what he has not even a whiff of an accent.

Don't get me wrong, i have never seen any meds for him, i just go off what she and her boyfriend say. She may be making the whole thing up completely and he may not have meds at all, but she gets DLA for him, might just be for his adhd, and she may be lying about the rest, possibly, but she like i said acts like she has mild Munchhausen's, so anything is possible.

Original poster
GabbyLoggon · 16/10/2010 11:04

Yes, this thhread has broadened out. It needed to. On rich people and tax? The condems they they want to do something about it. Ver y difficult, they all have accountants.

OP posts:
cidre · 16/10/2010 11:05

The money spent chasing the small number of benefit 'cheats' is probably as much if not more as the amount they claim...

2shoeprintsintheblood · 16/10/2010 11:12

the cheats should be chased, but threads like this just cause heart ache for the genuine and give the op a buzz

sarah293 · 16/10/2010 11:18

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2shoeprintsintheblood · 16/10/2010 12:10

weird how someone always knows a scammer, ane everything about themHmm

fairycake123 · 16/10/2010 12:17

I really like the structure of the OP: "I saw a film and if you had seen it then these are the things you would have seen: XYZ."

I might start one about Predator: "This film really entertains me. If you had seen it then you would have seen the following:

  • a man shooting a really big gun into the jungle
  • a female prisoner hitting a man with a stick
  • Arnie picking up a truck on his own
  • a monster that is kind of invisible (WTF?!?!?!?)
Theincrediblesulk1 · 16/10/2010 12:19

Its where people wake up from comas and have a different accent. lool apparently her kid has that its a really rare phenomenon! and he has not been in a coma!

I think she completely made up he had been diagnosed with this, like i said he has not got a foreign accent! lool

I know a few scammers actually, my uncle being one of them, he is signed off work for life with a bad back! Hmm he still manages to stand for hours in the pub every day. back is one of those things you cant prove or disprove. He actually boasted to us he was signed off for life, like we would celebrate with him or something. I said why is that a good thing, My husband is now really ill, and would love nothing more than to be better and able to go back to his job.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 16/10/2010 12:22

Ps i do know a lot about her, as she makes it her life's mission to make my best friend (her sister in law's) life a misery. So i spend a lot of hours talking about her!

Amazing how someone always thinks they know a full story from a snippet over the Internet Hmm

ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs · 18/10/2010 11:12

Nobody gets DLA without a medical report Riv, you adn I both know that. In fact with ours we sent

A paed report clearly stating a need for 24/7 supervision;

An SLT report

A report from BIBIC detailing his exact developmental stage in over a hundred different areas;

Diaries

and they still write off for more evidence.

DLA is also not awarded on nature of diagnosis; but on care needs. Thus a child may not have a disorder people consider significant but if it presents in certain ways, then.... which is why soewm people can get it for AS or Eczma asnd some get HR: the level of input needed.

And people who claim they know these people but do not report are complicit themselves.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 18/10/2010 11:33

Oh right and what would i say exactly? Oh someone i know, who gets DLA, i am not 100% what for as the girl lies out of her back teeth. is not being honest with you about what her son is like? even though i dont have a copy of her application so i am not sure what in fact she has told you he needs?

Come off it!

As for my uncle he doesn't get DLA, i don't think, just income support and again! he has medical backing! they know he is a drunk, he has been in and out of prison for violent crimes but yet they don't think, hay how can this guy hit someone when he cant walk because of the agony!

Sometimes its not possible to prove! hence why they are paying him in the first place!

ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs · 18/10/2010 11:35

You do ;t ahve top report with facts, but absolutely you cold say that yes.

If you beleive it enough to say its certaijn on here, you could make that phone call.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 18/10/2010 11:37

Right i will do it today then!

ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs · 18/10/2010 11:38

Good, well done.

The DLA people are sensible: they know some calls are malicious, some people havent; got the facts: what she has told you will be checked (Becuase sometimes people lie about dx's through embarassment etc) and then resports etc followed with a call.

If it's genuine it should be fine; if not- well then her own fault.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 18/10/2010 11:43

I am glad its an 0800 number, this may be a long call.

madhairday · 18/10/2010 11:51

See this is what really worries me about eh DLA reviews coming up, that they will be undertaken by ignorant faily mail reading tossers people who watch films like the OP. I agree with cory et al about this. Disability doesn't have to be 24 hours a day in a wheelchair ffs. I'm the same, some days I may even appear normal (ish) but others be utterly bedbound and reliant on dh. But if one of these assessors saw me on a good day even - horror of horrors! - going into my gym (for pulmonary rehab, and gentle swimming - I do funnily enough try to do my best to stop my condition degenerating further) - they would make that ignorant diagnosis that I am A Cheat. A Scrounger.
This makes me so angry.
I suspect there are very few DLA cheats. It's incredibly difficult to get and I only got it with very descriptive supporting letters from my consultant etc.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 18/10/2010 11:58

I agree madhairday, we are currently applying for dla, for dh who is, as much as it pains me to say, dieing.

We have had to jump through hoops for it,and i cant see how people could defraud the system

But from what this girl has told me, her sil and the child i have been in the presence of on many occasions i have to say something is wrong here. I know she has munchausen's (its very obvious) and tells terrible lies every day, but i think i am doing the right thing informing them, its just i am struggling with my conscience.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 18/10/2010 12:00

Madhairday, May i ask what it is you are having the rehab for? both myself and dh have chest problems, i just wanted to know, tell me to piddle off if you don't want to talk about it?

madhairday · 18/10/2010 12:12

No problem, I have bronchiectasis and asthma so come under COPD umbrella and my physio referred me for PR which is great so far. Any questions feel free to ask.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 18/10/2010 12:17

My dh has copd, Emphysema damaged and bronchitis. He is not doing well at all at the moment breathing is impossible for him, he cant even speak a sentence at the moment.
He is supposed to be having rehabilitation sessions soon at the doctors. Do you get dla then?
Also seeing the copd nurses on friday

ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs · 18/10/2010 12:25

MHD I know; ds3 (severe enough ASD to be in a SNU and unable to cope with class size above 6) was refused on first applicaiton.

DS1 appears NT. He sat through a coffee with a mumsnetter on Saturday fine as anything (unlike his sibling who is apparently NT- DS2! I was unimpressed!). but, as soon as we reached our destination I had two hours of utter hell trying to (unsuccessfully) calm him. Because I broke routine.

Now, anyone who understands ASD probably gets this but most DLA staff don't. How could they understand all SN when they are admin recruits? Heavens, I have a good knowledge of ASD (MA level) and am interested in Sn generally but there are many, many dx's I know nothing of, even after 10 years of googling new ones from here.

DS3's DLA has been awarded until he is 16. DS1's is up again in the spring. It is ds1 who needs it the most; this week it's a new door that we need, and we just ordered a laptop for him to use at comp when he goes up on school request. I have to be with him all the time and even then- lets just say after a few bruises I wish we qualified for respite, or could afford to buy it in.

Now if dla assessor comes on a bad day- and he might, they all seem it atm- we're set for a renewal easily; he can be expected to see a small boy stim, throw homself around, move about frog style only..... a good day and he's a bit quiet.