to report this person (again) for Benefit Fraud?

[RagamuffinAndFidget]

A woman who lives near me has been falsely claiming benefits for almost two years. Her partner works full time and earns a lot of money, they have two children, and they most definitely live together. She claims Income Support, Child Tax Credits, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. I know all this because she recently (proudly!!) announced that she had been investigated for Benefit Fraud but 'got away with it'.

Given that I know she's still falsely claiming benefits, and has been doing so for a long time, would I BU to report her to whoever it is one reports these things to?

I don't think she has a goat.. maybe I've got it all wrong then?

I only know what she's told me. She and I were chatting in the street the other day and she told me she'd been investigated but that she had got away with it. She said she gets Income Support, etc, and was worried they would stop during the investigation but they didn't. I always knew her partner was living there but I didn't know she was claiming benefits until she told me the other day.. I thought it was all legal and above board.

Get a hobby.

Ragamuffin - people say all sorts of strange things - it's the brazen it out - pah nothing can touch me mentality, when in fact (perhaps) nothing could be further than the truth.

Now, stop twitching that net curtain......and remember if you report her again you are wasting resources unless you have real tangible proof that wasn't available at the time of the original investigation.

I'm disappointed in the responses you've received OP. If she's bragging about it then I'd report her.

Cheating the public purse is wrong and we all suffer.

I say weird things all the time .

I told my neighbour the other day that I shagged Jonny Depp.

She didn't believe me

Maybe she is just winding you up op?

I never understand the bragging myself.
I mean you don't get people talking about the bank robbery they've just got away with or the murder because pressumably they want to continue getting away with it

If you reported her last time, will it make any difference to report it again, unless you can provide new evidence?

Agree that we're all paying for benefit fraud. However, we're also paying the investigators' salaries, so it's worth considering if they will be able to prove anything

OP, try looking up the word 'harass' in the dictionary. You did your dirty work when you reported her. Must be very disappointing for you that she wasn't put in the stocks. Are you going to put a note in your diary to report her every Monday until you get a result?

If you are that concerned about benefit fraud, I suggest you apply for a job with the DWP. Otherwise, stop snooping.

I read it that the OP didn't report her last time and only knows she has been investigated because of what she said about 'getting away with it'

Benefit fraud does happen.

I didn't report her the first time. I didn't know she was doing anything wrong until she told me. I was just wondering, really, if there was any point phoning someone to say that I know she's still claiming falsely, because Benefit Fraud costs the country millions, blah blah blah blah. It's a crime, and I thought we were meant to report crimes?

Ah, you said report this person (again) so I thought you'd done it before.

Btw, you do know that the government's own figures show false claims are outweighed many times over by the amount of benefits that are not claimed at all, even though people are entitled? (And that the definition of false claims includes mistakes made by DWP, so actually over-estimates the number of real false claims.)

That's nothing Crazynana, I recently told my neighbor that I haven't shagged John Terry, Russell Brand or Ryan Giggs.

I shagged a goat AND it was claiming child support for two kids that don't even live with it!

I'd be very surprised if she had been claiming fraudulently, was investigated and is still claiming fraudulently. The investigations are pretty comprehensive and the investigators are not known for being "light handed" in their approach.
Is it at all possible that her partner doesn't earn as much as you think? Maybe her comment was meant to be provocative. Was she joking?
Only report if you have some hard evidence that what they are both doing is fraudulent, otherwise it's a waste of everyone's time and money!

But Edam that by very definition is false claims that they have uncovered, thats not all the false claims.

They will get caught in time. MYOB

goodas- no, that is the government's own estimate of the amount lost in benefit fraud; so not just discovered cases.

AwarkwardMry - I hope it wasn't my Billy.

You cannot even know for sure what she is claiming or if she is actually entitled to it. regardless of what she has said.

if you reported her and they found nothing wrong move on.

Do you even know how hard it is to get benefits and how much checking and proof they need beforehand.

YABU. The money spent on pointless investigations into the neighbours of nosey, busybody, police informant types comes out of the public purse.

yabu shes been investigated and nothing came of it, let it go.

Shes probably yanking your chain anyway to get you all nice and frothy about it, and its worked a treat

ime some people who falsely claim benefits do boast about it. Stupid I know, but they still do it.

Edam - There is evidence to show that housing benefit fraud, particularly that committed by organised criminals, is massively under detected. Stats can be very misleading. For example, if you looked at prosecutions for dropping litter you would conclude that dropping litter is rare when we know this isn't true.