Think less of my friend for reporting somebody for benefit fraud

[JimJams91]

My new-ish friend told me yesterday that she has reported her ex husbands new girlfriend for benefit fraud.

She doesn't know for certain that she's even committing benefit fraud but is feeling resentful about the small amount of CMS she receives from XH and doesn't like the thought of him spending money on another family (the girlfriend has children of her own that don't belong to the XH - children's father is deceased so the XH is likely spending a fair bit of time with/around them)

I felt quite uncomfortable when she told me about it and said I don't think it was the right thing to do because 1) there's no proof it's even happening and 2) if it is happening it'll impact her children more than it will her XH as he won't be the one in legal trouble or unable to feed his kids if his benefits are stopped.

Overall I don't like the idea of being spiteful to a woman who has done you no wrong just because you have a grudge against an ex. The ex seems like a complete waste of space but the girlfriend is a total stranger to her and has never done her any harm (and wasn't an OW)

I know benefit fraud is completely unacceptable but there's nothing to say it's even happening. Even if it was she has reported for the wrong reasons.

Do you think I'm being unreasonable for being against what she's done? If your friend told you this what would your reaction be?

The GF has got nothing to fear if she’s got nothing to hide.
And she should be working.

So, she knows the girlfriend's name and address at least, yes?
Otherwise this whole thing is a farce.
I agree with PP it's a spiteful thing to do but how can you report someone for benefit fraud if you don't even know that they claim benefits?

But her benefits might be stopped. That is, if she even claims any.
Guilty until proven innocent...

And she should be working.

Why? She may have life insurance or a pension from her late husband and is perfectly in her rights not to.
Assuming she actually doesn't, anyway.

This is beyond, she has no proof or knowledge and has just done it to cause trouble.
I don’t hold the MN belief that hardly anyone commits benefit fraud, I think it’s far more widespread than people think. Your friend is not fighting for the tax payer she has done a nasty thing against some she doesn’t know out of jealousy-the girlfriend might work and own her home or rent without any UC help, how would she explain to her employer that she is being investigated for benefit fraud.
I would stay clear as she sounds awful, most people don’t admit stuff like that out loud.

I actually wrote a newspaper article on this last year.

The government release statistics detailing the finances surrounding benefit fraud.

First, the amount of disability benefit fraud is negligible (you don't say what kind of benefit fraud she has reported, but cases like this usually are disability benefit - certainly Mumsnet is very keen on "disabled people committing benefit fraud" threads), yet disability benefit fraud receives an amount of attention that is hugely disproportionate.

The largest percentage of benefits fraud is actually pension fraud (meaning, people of pension age who lie about their personal circumstances to receive more state pension than they are entitled to), but you never hear a word about pensioners defrauding the state, you'd certainly never see a BBC TV show where a TV presenter goes around confronting elderly people who are stealing from the government by fiddling their pensions, even though pension fraud is eight times higher than DSA fraud.

Why? Because pensioners have the highest voter turnout, and no political party wants to risk pissing them off. So pension fraud continues, while disabled people are demonised.

Second, something like 89% of all reports of benefit fraud are found to be fraudulent and/or malicious reports. Ie the person claiming benefits is not committing any fraud, the person who reported them was either deliberately lying out of malice, or ignorantly assumed they weren't entitled to benefits due to stuff like "I saw my neighbour gardening once so they clearly must be pretending to be disabled to scam benefits" without realising the neighbour has a terminal diagnosis.

I don't have the exact stats to hand, but the government spends significantly more money investigating claims of benefit fraud, than they recover from genuine cases of benefit fraud.

People maliciously reporting people they dislike for benefit fraud costs our country millions.

If the government stopped investigating benefit fraud entirely, it would actually save the government money. That would never happen, because benefits claimants are a useful scapegoat who the government and the media have demonised to the point most people are extremely surprised to learn that disability benefit fraud is so extremely low, and that most allegations of benefit fraud are found to be false.

She got the surname by looking her up on social media. She must have the address otherwise she wouldn't have been able to make a report I wouldn't have thought.

Thank you . Much appreciated .

To be honest, I would less be focused on the report and more on what it told me, she’s not over him, she’s jealous of his new partner, she’s behaving spitefullyto this woman for the simple reason she’s his new partner and she’s trying to cause her some pain.

she’d not be for me either, but I would feel sorry for her.

Interesting article, but why was your focus specifically on disability fraud?
Also I'm no social scientist but I did think that public froth against benefit claimants was directed towards people claiming legitimately - they just think the system shouldn't allow it.

Like people working PT and claiming for example

If she is committing fraud then good on your friend for reporting her.

Wow what a nasty bitch. If the girlfriend hasn’t done anything wrong, her benefits will still be stopped while they investigate. And the girlfriend and her children might suffer a lot of hardship during that time.

If your friend has no evidence and no actual reasonable reason to believe what she’s reporting, then she’s just doing it to be spiteful. If the girlfriend finds out it’s your friend, then I wouldn’t be surprised if the girlfriend doesn’t give a shiny shit about your friend in future when it comes to finances/childcare favours/your friend’s expectations of the girlfriend, etc..

I wouldn’t be able to view your friend in the same way either.

I would definitely report benefit fraud if I had evidence that it was happening. As a hard working taxpayer, I find it incredibly frustrating that people are allowed to get away with defrauding a system which is supposed to support those in genuine need, not work-shy chancers.
I definitely wouldn’t make a baseless or malicious allegation of benefit fraud against someone I disliked, though, because that would waste the time of officials who should be tackling genuine fraud.

@homeforme @Kangarude This is incorrect, no benefits are stopped unless they have proof that a fraud IS being committed. Please don't make things up @homeforme

No they are not! I've been falsely accused before. They only stop them if they have actual evidence of fraud! 🙄

She’s doing it out of spite and being vindictive to the ex, not out of civic duty. This is someone who is quite juvenile (mentality wise) , vindictive and holds irrational grudges. She has red flags written all over. I would re-think my friendship.

@abyssinianrosette They are NOT stopped unless they have actual proof of fraud. If yours were stopped then obviously there was a reason. I've been falsely reported 3 times and never once during the investigation were ANY of my payments stopped

Mine have never been stopped but some people's have and they were innocent

She would have never reported her if she were not dating the ex.

Here we go. MN vociferously comes to the defence of benefits cheats. In MN land, being a benefits cheat is akin to a badge of honour. It makes extra virtuous if you steal from the taxpayer via benefits. Unlike any other form of stealing.

There can only be one explanation. Those defending it so vehemently are at it themselves.

It was a spiteful thing to do but I wouldn't worry to much as it's highly unlikely they will do anything about it even if she is committing benefit fraud! I have a friend who is doing it by pretending to be a single parent while living with her partner. She openly admits she is doing this and it is obvious she has a partner on her social media, she has been reported 3 times for benefit fraud and they have literally done nothing! She gets interviewed over the phone in which she denies it and then that's it! It would be extremely easy for them to prove if they really wanted to but they clearly don't!

No they are not

not work-shy chancers
Here we go. MN vociferously comes to the defence of benefits cheats. In MN land, being a benefits cheat is akin to a badge of honour.

If the government stopped investigating benefit fraud allegations, it would save the country millions.

Facts. Not emotion.

The idea that Britain is being held hostage by "work-shy chancers" fiddling benefits is an emotional response brought about by having been manipulated by the government and the media, not a response based on fact.

And if it comes to that, the biggest form of fraud the UK government has to deal with is by far tax fraud, and mainly tax fraud by large corporations. But those corporations often have backroom deals with individual politicians, so they get away with essentially scamming and stealing from our country.

The amount of money we lose in benefit fraud is change down the back of the sofa compared to the literal billions of pounds stolen from us in unpaid corporate taxes.

Typical Britain. Steal a billion pounds from Britain and you can get away scot-free as long as you bung your MP mate a few thousand.

But if you have bone cancer or a serious chronic illness and you put down that on a bad day you can't walk 50 yards (because common advice is to put down your symptoms on a bad day), then someone spots you walking - maybe it's a special occasion and you really pushed yourself to walk, knowing you'd be in bed for two days, or you just happened to be having a good pain day - and you'll get investigated and demonised for it, all for the princely sum of £26.90 a week.

And people still insist it's the person receiving £26.90 per week because they put down their symptoms on a bad day who are the problem.

There can only be one explanation. Those defending it so vehemently are at it themselves.

I've never been on benefits in my life.

No they are not! I've been falsely accused before. They only stop them if they have actual evidence of fraud! 🙄

They are NOT stopped unless they have actual proof of fraud.

No, that is not factually correct.

I really wish people would stop posting things based on their personal experience only, without bothering to do even a simple google search to fact-check.

"You'll be contacted by the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ), HM Revenue and Customs ( HMRC ), the Defence Business Services or your local authority if you're suspected of fraud. Your benefit may be stopped while you're investigated. You'll get a letter telling you about this if it happens."

https://www.gov.uk/benefit-fraud

My reaction would be it’s up to her, and if she is committing benefit fraud good