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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Benefit fraud action

99 replies

gordan · 25/01/2018 22:33

I’ve got a friend and she confessed to me that she reported her cousin for benefit fraud.

Her cousin has five children. Her And her husband claim tax credits for the kids and child benefit. Husband claims Jsa. My friend said the husband does cash in hand work getting 300 per week. The cousin started work on the side. My friend said she works fir a family friends business and may have declared she is working 10 hours but in reality working full time. Her employers as they family friends have probably given her a payslip reflecting she works 10 hours per week. On top of this they have 60.000 in savings. They have a rental property which they have not declared and opened a bank account for this rental property. The cousin goes on holidays in five star hotels and has renovated home and bought new car.
My friend said she wanted her cousin to claim the right amount of benefit And so shopped her for fraud. My friend said what they are getting in tax credits with what they are earning is a lot of money. She says she shopped them 6 months ago but nothing seems to have been done. Also my friend says the cousin husband was dobbed last time by someone, for working cash in hand but he got the people he was working for to say he was a volunteer.

My friend says that she doesn’t understand why this is the case of them not being prosecuted. Surely they would see what bank accounts the cousin has. My friend said they were going to put the rental
Income property in the eldest sons name who is 19. But surely if there was an investigation they would query how this 19 year old got a rental property. The mortgage had been set up by a private mortgage firm. But my friend said they used a normal bank account.

My friend said what’s the point of having benefit fraud if nothing happens especially with this case. There is literally 100,s of pounds they are claiming which they are not entitled to.
I’ve told her it’s best to leave it as she done was she could.

OP posts:
HolidayHelpPlease · 25/01/2018 23:03

If it was you who shopped them OP then good on you - benefits are for hard times, and the more they’re abused the more backlash against them!
But fraud cases take years - someone I know who was shopped for student finance fraud had finished uni by the time she was caught!

EggsonHeads · 25/01/2018 23:03

Shall we place bets on which sympathising posters are also over claiming benefits?

@Gilead where do you think the money is coming from ffs? The tax payer will only willingly pay so much and the government will only borrow so much. If people claim welfare they aren't entitled to it reduces the amount of money available to the government. This means that governments are more likely to impose austerity measures.

AllMyBestFriendsAreMetalheads · 25/01/2018 23:04

Either they are being investigated, or one of the parties involved is lying.

BoldKitties · 25/01/2018 23:05

Well yes, crazycatgal. But have you noticed how on threads like this, the alleged 'benefits cheat' is always swanning off on holiday/drives a Range Rover/has a giant television/new house? Yet I have never known anyone on benefits who lives like that. It comes across as a bit goady, doesn't it?

NeedsAsockamnesty · 25/01/2018 23:05

The 60k is utter bollocks unless they have it hidden in cash.

And with the rest of it they would have more benefit money in work than out of it due to the benefit cap, go away sort out your sorry tale and come up with something a bit more convincing to get us suitably frothing

VladmirsPoutine · 25/01/2018 23:11

Who are you in this story? I'd bet my house (or mortgage) that you are either the friend or the cousin.

gordan · 25/01/2018 23:14

Nope im not the friend as I’ve been on jsa in my life. My friend confided after seeing that nothing seems to be done. Her cousin has told her things because they are family. And as for having 60k. Maybe not in bank accounts but stashed elsewhere or even the mattress. At the end of the day it’s a substantial amount they’ve not declared.

OP posts:
BoldKitties · 25/01/2018 23:15

Well guest477337, I pay tax too. I don't give a shite who my tax money is 'given to' (which it isn't, by the way, do you know how taxes work?). I'm just proud to be part of a society that has a benefit system. Will a tiny minority of people take the piss? Yeah, probably. I'd still prefer to have a benefit system for the vast majority of people who don't take the piss and just need some help to get by.

Also please don't call me 'love'. I don't appreciate your patronising tone.

OnTheList · 25/01/2018 23:15

I am always constantly amazed by how many people seem to know the exact circumstances of other peoples lives.

But they have now been reported. If all of that in the OP is true, they will be prosecuted, no need to sweat it.

tiddliewinkiewoo · 25/01/2018 23:16

*gamerchick Thu 25-Jan-18 22:49:11
We all have a moral reason to report the thieving bastards that commit benefit fraud. It's stealing from the public purse and means less people who need it get adequate funding

There are more people not claiming the benefits they’re entitled too than they are defrauding the system.*

And so we don't report criminals who are defrauding the benefit agency because there are more people that don't claim? With that logic we shouldn't chase people who don't PAYE (small businesses) because the likes of big businesses get away with it?

OnTheList · 25/01/2018 23:16

And as for having 60k. Maybe not in bank accounts but stashed elsewhere or even the mattress.

LOL really? They are telling people they have thousands of pounds stashed in their mattress? This has to be a pisstake Grin

Haffiana · 25/01/2018 23:17

How the fuck does some random know how much in savings someone has, how much they earn, what sort of holidays they have? How? This is bollox.

All this and 60k savings from a cash in hand job of £300 a week? Oh fuck off.

I don't know that sort of earnings and lifestyle detail about anyone I know in real life.

The giveaway is when someone uses Daily Mail catchphrases like '5 star hotels' and 'private mortgage'. Just total wank.

Viviennemary · 25/01/2018 23:18

They are a pair of crooks and deserve to be reported. This isn't a few pounds earned on the side and not declared. It's quite a large fraudulent claim. But if nothing has been done about it perhaps your 'friend' has got her facts wrong.

Frequency · 25/01/2018 23:20

No-one announces that they have 60k stashed in their house. No-one.

Well done, though. You've achieved your goals. The frothers are here, ranting about the taxes and displaying no understanding, at all how the system works.

Post about a widescreen TV next, that'll really get them going.

PS - don't forget the Sky subscription.

Blackteadrinker77 · 25/01/2018 23:21

Why would some one with properties and 60k in savings work for £300 a week?

It's been reported now leave it be.

blurredlines · 25/01/2018 23:24

None of it makes sense . They do regular credit checks on claimants so don't think a second property or 60k in savings would go a miss.

cherryontopp · 25/01/2018 23:34
Hmm

It seems when a person puts a thread on MN about benefit fraud and if they should report etc ..the OP gets slammed and accused of being bitter, jealous, a trouble causer and get told to stay out of it.

These people who are they are mentioning are frauding the system and every single tax payer out there.
Why should we pay our taxes and to be ripped off by these people?!

fuzzyduck1 · 25/01/2018 23:39

Totally agree with your friend.shop them if they are abusing the system. I have a friend who shopped someone after they boasted about how much they were getting and how many times they had to fill in the dla forms until they got the maximum. P.s. I’m not the “friend” but I would have reported them if I’d heard that,
The benefits system is a safety net and not a lifestyle choice.
Bring back the poor houses!

BoldKitties · 25/01/2018 23:44

'Bring back the poor houses!' Oh yes, lets do that. That totally makes you sound like a rational, normal human being. Have you any idea how dispicable that makes you sound?

RitasEducation · 26/01/2018 00:00

How disgusting fuzzyduck1.

You must be Katie Hopkins or similar sort.

Frequency · 26/01/2018 00:08

Given that Fuzzy apparently believes that someone has 60K holed up under their floorboards and has bought and let out a house without HMRC catching wind of it (OP - was this in cash or do they have a secret mortgage?) I'd think it was far more likely that s/he doesn't fully understand what a poor house is or the history of them.

springtulip · 26/01/2018 00:14

There's lots of things our taxes go on that could wind me up. Contributing to the welfare state isn't one of them.

fleshmarketclose · 26/01/2018 00:28

I used to work for DWP, I wouldn't and didn't report anyone then and still wouldn't report anyone now. It's highly unlikely that you ever know the full details of someone else's life and if you are wrong you cause a lot of pain and hardship. Fraudulent claims are a tiny percentage anyway and nowhere near the percentage of people not receiving their entitlement.

Falmer · 26/01/2018 00:47

Would the cousin really be working full time with 5 kids? And her dh works also, so that will be a lot of childcare costs?

Falmer · 26/01/2018 00:51

Not that I don't believe you OP, just wondering if your friend is telling the truth?