Friend committing benefit fraud

[namechange091]

Name changed.

A close friend is pregnant. She's living with her parents and her DP although claiming that he doesn't live there and pays minimum maintenance.

She's getting money for being a lone parent and he's also earning almost £2k a month and they have £50 a month rent to pay.

AIBU to be so angry about this?!
I keep getting temptations to dob her in but feel like it's immoral as a friend!

@hazell42 I have nothing against people who rightfully claim benefits. But I don't think you can class someone who's on £2k from their partner, another few hundred from benefits with the only bill they have is £50 rent to her mum as the "worst off" in our society, can you?

I have a family member pretending to be a single mum- she isn't. Her partner lives with her and earns well. They have so much more money than hardworking honest people and and get free school meals, rent paid, free prescriptions, etcetc...I really want to report it but do worry they'll find out it's me as they know I don't agree with them.

How do you know who is rightfully claiming benefits? Its like saying, well you don't look disabled.
Why aren't you getting steamed up about self employed people who asked to be paid in cash so they don't have to pay the tax man, or people who hide their money off shore.
They are stealing your money too

Seems to be an awful lot of people who know an awful lot of people committing benefit fraud on here recently.

Interesting thing I read somewhere, seems that around 86% of reports of benefit fraud to the DWP turn out to be untrue! If we apply that percentage to the 3 threads I’ve seen about a neighbour, a sister and a friend in the last 2 days, that would indicate that at least 2.5 of those threads is also untrue.

Do carry on frothing though.

Every fraudulent claimant is taking money from the care system. There isn't a money tree. It is stealing and will hugely impact on other people.
Report, report,report!

Every fraudulent claimant is taking money from the care system

Not true. You could just as easily say that they were taking it from the education system, the road system or the budget for street lighting.

I don't condone benefit fraud. I just don't understand why we are so fixated on punishing the people who are stealing crumbs while others are literally getting away with millions right under our noses.

Is it because we just like feeling superior?

But I can't stand people who pick on benefit cheats, or people they think are benefit cheats.I think you should save your disgust for greedy rich bastards who avoid paying tax.

I have a low opinion of both, they are not mutually exclusive. Benefits cheats are the reason the Tory government has been able to strip away benefits from those who truly, genuinely need them.

Bil is a high earning tax avoider and makes me extremely cross too.

I knew someone years ago who claimed as a single mother even though her boyfriend mostly lived with her. He would bugger off and come back whenever he felt like it. He didn't really contribute anything.She would have been back and forth claiming and then coming off benefits every few weeks. She couldn't rely on him.
Yes, she should have dumped him and more fool her etc....but she was a vulnerable woman with no self esteem. Her life was pretty shit so I never felt I should judge her.

So OP,
Seeing as you know so much about her finances, just how much is your 'close' friend getting in benefits every month?

I've never met anyone in my whole life who has committed benefits fraud, who has pretended to be a single parent just to get more money. And now there are two threads within days of each other claiming a so called friend is fraudulently claiming benefits for single parents. The first one is a neighbor who says they are facebook friends who are on good terms and chat but aren't close friends. The response is that she is a nosy neighbor who's making nasty assumptions, gossiping on mn and should mind her own business. Not the response the Op wanted. And now this one with a friend who has openly admitted it. I don't buy it namechange091 who would incriminate themselves like that? If you really are close friends then surely you would know if she lacked integrity and she would know that you have integrity and therefore she probably wouldn't tell you. If you're not close friends then why would she risk telling you? It doesn't add up.

Have a look at this. Who cares about benefit fraud? It is not important.

Obviously you know unequivocally that your sister is committing benefit fraud in this way. When the situation is as straightforward as the one described in you OP I cannot, for one second, understand the shouts of "mind your own business". It's utter bullshit! It's everyone's business when the Government (and in turn you, as the tax payer) are being defrauded of millions a year.

This is what I said on the other thread where the OP's sister is claiming fraudulently. Same applies here!

No, it is because it is unfair. Look at the cuts to SEND provision. The woefully small amounts given to the elderly who depend on care. There is not an unlimited supply and it is stealing.
I might argue that I don't want to pay tax because giant corporations don't pay enough but I do believe that it is right for the individual to contribute to society.
I would not like to think that those with disabilities suffer because some people believe in stealing regardless of its effect on the common purse.

@NewYear2018 about £450. It's not about knowing so much about her finances, it's the fact she's sit and laughed to me that she's claiming as a lone parent when her DP lives with her so they can get more than they're entitled to.

“Benefits cheats are the reason the Tory government has been able to strip away benefits from those who truly, genuinely need them. ”

No, Middle England’s appetite for right wing politics ad nauseum is the reason they have been able to do this.

Why are you jealous of someone living off benefits?

It isn't jealousy. It's that someone is screwing the system that WE pay for. Why do you think it costs so much? It's because there are so many people playing the system. If everyone was honest, perhaps there'd be more money to go to those who truly need it.

What about the money from the millions of claimants who are getting underpaid by the DWP because they don’t know and aren’t told of their full entitlements? Or the claims that can take weeks or months to get implemented and the claimants are denied back pay? Or the amount of money and manhours wasted investigating the 86% of false claims?

How about they get that right first and then go after the tiny percentage who are actually claiming fraudulently instead of arming a mob of amateur snoops with pitchforks and torches and inciting them to inform on those they have grudges against?

Blimey OP how much is she getting

You could report it anonymously but they don't do anything

StreetwiseHercules

Absolutely. Makes no sense at all that people fixate so much on this nasty shit

Streetwise The acceptance of/ support for the Tory justification of benefits cuts (whether in middle England or not) is built on the premise that we're overrun with benefits cheats who are stealing money from the system. Every story of benefits cheats stealing money from the system reinforces that perception and solidifies support for punitive Tory measures against the poor.

I’d dob her in. That money is for the unfortunate, not for the greedy.

I see.. just over a hundred quid a week then. And exactly what benefits is she claiming OP? How many children? Is she in work?

hazell42

I'm not interested in necessarily punishing benefit cheats but I want to stop them stealing from the rest of the country.

I can't see why we can't catch benefit and tax cheats. Why go after just one type of fraudster? The two needn't be mutually exclusive.

Also you're nit-picking a little in response to mrsmuddlepies. It might not take money specifically from the care budget but it takes money from the country's budget as a whole so we all lose out to these thieves.

It's bizarre how many people claiming fraudulently tell other people or family members.
Absolute stupidity.