WWYD? Suspect colleague of fraud

[Bigviking]

I have a colleague I've worked with for a long time. I'm senior to her, but we are close-ish due to the length of time we've worked together.

Some backstory - colleague was married and her exH had a well paid job. They split up about 6 years ago (they were having problems for some time, but split up due to her having an affair, and she has lived with the OM ever since). Her current partner does not earn nearly as much as her exH.

She has got herself into a right mess financially over the years. We've had multiple attachment of earnings requests due to debts not paid; debt collection companies ring her up everyday, etc. She regularly takes out pay-day loans, and she's had to borrow money from colleagues in the past. This is all mainly due to the fact that she hasn't adjusted her lifestyle since she split from her exH. She still takes holidays abroad, drives a nice car, has the latest iphone, etc.

To get to my WWYD - I know that my colleague has applied for pay day loans and credit online, using her partner's details. I've also heard her pretending to be him when talking to the bank about his accounts. She has access to all of his account details because she went through a process of trying to claim back PPI for them both. I think he couldn't be bothered with all the paperwork, so she got all of his details and wrote to the banks and PPI claim companies to try and get some money back.

I had always assumed that he is aware of what she was doing. But recently I've been suspecting more and more that he doesn't actually know. I don't have concrete evidence; it's mostly a gut feeling, but it's also based on conversations we've had or when I've heard her on the phone fobbing him off about why a standing order hasn't gone through, etc.

So, WWYD? Sometimes I feel like I want to tell the guy, but obviously that would have serious consequences for my colleague, and of course I could be wrong about the situation. And I know that none of this is any of my business anyway. I just keep thinking that it's all going to blow up and is it really bad that I've been suspecting something for a while but done nothing? I'm also worried about my colleague as I think she must be close to a breakdown with all the stress of people chasing her for money.

I'm far from ok with it. I've known this woman for 15 years, her younger child is the same age as one of mine. Whilst we're not best buddies, she has been supportive to me when my mum died and when I got divorced. I care about what happens to her.

She is currently off work because her mum is gravely ill. This is partly the reason why I've been thinking about it so much. She's on sickness review so will only get SSP if she gets signed off again. She's using holiday entitlement at the moment but hardly has any days left for the year. HR said she could take compassionate leave but this is limited and any additional time she takes would be unpaid. Her financial situation is going to get even worse. The SSP wouldn't even cover her rent.

You wouldn't be ruining her life.

The best case scenario is that she's claiming to be her partner with his permission. It's still fraud and foolishness, but she'd probably get away with a slapped wrist.

The worst case scenario is that she's taking out loans in his name without his permission, in which case she'd be punished.

She has acted wrongly. You'd be doing the right thing, legally and morally. If you do nothing, you are effectively condoning and allowing fraud. I have no idea if you'd be in trouble with work or the law, but morally that's got to be worse than reporting someone who's doing something wrong.

Her situation IS going to come crashing down around her ears (more than it already has) with or without you. That's going to happen iminently, you NOT blowing the whistle on this won't prevent that from happening, however, if you do tell, it'll change outcomes for the better for yoursellf, and for her partner. It won't make things worse for her, what she's doing is only going to go one way, and it's not up!

How about a text to the DP saying, as Tina is going through a lot with her mum would you like me to suggest some numbers you can call to help with the claims that Tina was doing for you.

If you work for a big enough company, I'd get the IT department to look into her emails for outgoing messages to 'inappropriate recipients'. Then take it from there. You'd be detached from it, as you could say it was a routine sweep.

I'm assuming your colleague 's partner is a man, so how does she propose to talk to the payday loan companies pretending to be him? I'm sure most savvy payday loan company employees would notice this, they seemed to be pretty thorough when I applied to get a loan

Glad Im not the only poster who wondered about this.

To be frank I think its all a load of nonsense.

You seriously need to stop worrying about and consider that if your knowledge of this comes to light in the future you risk your job, income, professional reputation and possibly even criminal charges against you.

YOU won't have ruined her life she seems perfectly capable of doing that herself.

At the very least you could be demoted for not properly supervising her seeing as she's effectively stealing from your company by doing this in work hours on work equipment using work resources and NOT doing what she's paid for!

Can you afford to live on the salary below yours?

MrsPeelyWaly, already answered that question. She put on a deep voice. Half the office heard her, as she sounded ridiculous. I couldn't believe the bank didn't question her. When I asked why she had rung instead of her partner she said it was because he works nights (which I know he does) so he couldn't call himself during the day. As I explained earlier, I've only heard her do this with the bank. All the loans and credit applications are done online.

Not sure why you think it's all a load of nonsense.