To contemplate reporting someone for possible benefit fraud? WWYD?

[WWYDhey]

So there’s this girl I know. Not a close friend but someone I know and would say hi to in the street. We are Facebook friends. I know a bit about her through mutual friends.

She is claiming as a single parent of two kids but her boyfriend lives with her. Full time. They have actually just become engaged and she is pregnant. He has 3 kids to someone else with which he sees 2 of them every other week.

He is ‘unemployed’ but I believe he works full time for cash in hand. (Some kind of joinery or building work)

What has made me consider reporting her (if that’s something you can even do??) is that she spends all her ‘free’ money on weekly hair up appointments, professional make up done. New nails etc (we all know this as she documents everything on Facebook) always out at restaurants and nights out. Almost like she is bragging.
Doesn’t look like she spends much on her kids. They always look a bit scruffy and bored in her photos. (Think tops that look too small or worn out)

And now that she’s pregnant she’s uploading loads of expensive purchases for the baby (ted baker everything, massive pram ordained in Jewell’s)

Now I know some of the replies I will get here will be along the lines of ‘what’s it got to do with you how she spends her money’

• well yes it has nothing to do with me but it is really irritating that I work full time with kids and pay a lot in tax and have to scrimp and save. I don’t get all of the luxuries she does. Yet ina round about way I contribute to it.

‘How do you know she’s on benefits’ our mutual friend knows she is for certain. Plus she works 18 hours per week in a cafe so it’s not rocket science.

So would you report someone claiming as a single parent when she isn’t?

YABU- Dont report her and don’t give it another thought

YANBU- Do report her

If so how would you report anonymously?

Have you reported yet, OP?

If not, and you want someone else to do it, PM the details and I'll gladly report the scrounging, cheating fucker.

DowntownAbby this is how the Stasi operated.

Good government works because it’s people believe in it..Everyone co oprates because that pushes governemnet,.

Yeh, whatever @Leflic

OP, as mentioned I'll report the CFs if you want.

Then why did you have them? It's bad parenting to never do fun things with your children!

I really can't get my head round reporting a random on Facebook, but reporting a random off somebody else's Facebook because of a MN post can't possibly be a genuine suggestion, otherwise you might as well start picking people out of the phone book

YANBU. Report it. If she's doing nothing wrong then she has nothing to hide. If she's committing fraud then it needs to be stopped.
www.gov.uk/report-benefit-fraud

DowntownAbby In all seriousness reporting fellow citizens to the state has never worked well.

Report the cow. All the people calling you names or having a go telling you not to probably have something benefit-fraud related going on too (massive assumption but I don't care). Here's the number: www.gov.uk/national-benefit-fraud-hotline

All the people calling you names or having a go telling you not to probably have something benefit-fraud related going on too

Sure, because there's no smoke without fire. Oh no wait

More than 85% of public tips on benefit 'frauds' are false
Figures obtained by the Observer show that in the 1m alleged cases of benefit fraud put forward by the public, about 890,000 showed no fraud had taken place
www.theguardian.com/society/2016/feb/27/false-benefit-fraud-allegations

Malicious reports cost more than benefit fraud.

Oh and if she's innocent and entitled to the benefits she gets, nothing will happen to her as a result of your anonymous complaint.

More than 85% of public tips on benefit 'frauds' are false

The 15% rightly being caught makes me feel better.

nothing will happen, titnobrains? Apart from her benefits being stopped during the investigation, possibly making her homeless? You sound nice.

Darn right Id report her. Why should she live the high life whilst people flog their guts out to provide for their family. One of my carers had to come into work whilst her son was at home poorly, granted with his dad, to save extre money to have a nice Christmas. Dad works shifts. Obviously being mummy she would rather have been home with her little boy

Whilst the likes of her sits on her bum with a life like the rich.

Report her, she is stealing money from those that need it.

You may think I don't deserve my benefits when you glance at me getting in my car. You don't see the fact I only go out a maximum of twice a week, that the only time I get dressed is if I am going out because it is too tiring for me, the amount of painkillers & antidepressants I take every day. Just going to the supermarket for a £20 shop puts me in bed for 3 days, I have to plan my life around how I feel. It may take you 30 minutes to get up & ready to go out, it takes me 3 hours because I have to rest after brushing my hair & fastening it up, then after cleaning my face & putting on my make up, then I have to sit on the toilet to get dressed & clean my teeth, most days when I'm not going out just walking from my bed to the toilet feels like a marathon. You wonder why you never see me going out in a morning, it takes all morning to get my pain under control so that I can get ready to go out, I'm in bed before 6.00pm & don't get up until 10.00am at the earliest, I usually get 12 hours sleep minimum, sometimes this can include 4 hours during the day then like now I can't sleep at night, you don't see the pain I am in, the days when even my hair hurts, the days I dread waking up, but because I can stagger to my car & always say I am ok if anyone asks me how I am, you don't think I am disabled, I might as well be invisible most of the time. Just remember not all disabilities are visible & the people you will be hurting most are her children by reporting her, they are the innocent party in all this.

Definitely report her x

You don't know the full story so I would keep out of it. Just unfollow her on Facebook and get on with your own life. It's up to the authorities to find out about this sort of thing, and if it is really happening then they will catch up in time.

OP stated in the first post that this woman is claiming as a single mother, yet is living with and engaged to her partner.

Therefore, ignoring any opinions about how she spends her money etc. The OP knows that she is fraudulently claiming. Of course she should report her FFS

I'm just curious because you never know someone's real life and circumstances from the outside looking in. If I were in a situation where after working my entire adult life I was on benefits

1. I don't post pictures of my children ever but I do loads with them
2. I would choose benefits instead of completely relying on my family but they would probably send me a bit of money or pay for luxuries I could no longer afford like my hair and nails. Is that wrong? Is it wrong to get benefits and help from your family?

Genuinely asking, if any of my family fell on tough times I would set aside a few hundred quid a month to help them out. Is that wrong? Does it count as additional income? Would they be sanctioned for it? I'm genuinely asking and curious

If you feel the need to report someone for benefit fraud because you feel they genuinely are frauding the system, maybe you should. If you think this lady isn't being a good enough mum for your standards maybe send her an inbox while your stalking her page and tell her how you feel. Maybe her and her partner have declared they are in a relationship to the benefits and your sources are outdated, who knows. Who even goes on someone's fb page gets pissed off at someone else's happiness then uses the fact she's spending it all on herself and not her kids (when in fact you prob don't know how much she spends on her kids or bills or running a house) to make yourself sound better. Just inbox her directly n tell her she's a shit mum coz she goes out on a weekend, her kids look scruffy with worn clothes then tell her your reporting her for benefit fraud and then go ahead and do it, why the fuck not? This womans life is such an issue to you but you won't tell her how you feel course you won't, just like your mutual friend who fills you in is probably round at hers speaking shit about your finances. You sound like a lovley person btw. So does your mutual friend. Go for it i say i just think people who judge someone's parenting based on bullshit gossipers and fb probably should be off the fb and spending that time on their own children. I hope she also finds out what your saying about her as a parent

Well Aww I wish I was surviving by going to nail bars and hair salons.

It’s theft , why should people be allowed to get away with it while the rest of us work hard and scrimp and scrape.

It’s s good job the whole country don’t have the attitude of its ok to claim falsely for benefits.

I'd report.

I'm on benefit and disability payments. I get my hair done every 4 weeks and my nails. I do this because my daughter is s hair dresser and her colleague is a nail technician it doesn't cost me a penny they do them for me for free. Just because I'm now I receipt of benefits after working for 35 years I don,t intend to become an unkempt slob. This tax payer default aswell gets my goat. If she works she pays tax surely.