To think I am being stalked by benefit fraud people?

[Secretnamechange123]

No. I don’t take any recreational drugs, I’m not schizophrenic, I don’t hear voices and I am not being paranoid. Just thought I’d clear that up.

For the last few weeks down my road there’s been a few different cars turn up every morning and stays until later afternoon. The driver almost always stays in the car.

i am a genuine benefits receiver and I need assistance to move, so they won’t catch me wandering the streets, or popping out shopping/gym, unless I have available help, which is possibly once a month. Yes, for a whole month I am stuck inside. They would have seen my meds turn up in a boots pharmacy van, my shopping delivered which is usually time when my neighbours are home to help me. I live alone, I have no support, I don’t know what they are trying to catch? Their car is very unassuming but I live on a street with mine and my neighbours are attached and no more houses for half a mile.

Theyre not stalking my neighbours because they’re not on benefits, so I am guessing it can only mean it’s for me. I don’t have any criminal background, I basically sit in my house for weeks on end, do you think someone is trying to get me into trouble for no reason?

Would the money saved from proving you to be a benefit fraud (which you're not) equal the money to pay for someone to sit in a car watching you for weeks?

I rather doubt it. And all the 'watchers' I've ever known of have done the odd half hour here and there rather than sit in one place for ages upon ages. That costs far too much.

You are being paranoid.

As someone else said, you’ve decided that its about benefits and its about you.

There’s no evidence for this. I’m stuck in most of the time too and it can affect your mental health really badly.

If I were you I’d try and find a group of some kind to join once a week or so and move heaven and earth to get transport there and back. In the meantime watch a nice film, have some nice food and stop thinking about what people in cars are doing, whatever it is its not your business.

You can't know for sure your neighbours aren't in receipt of any benefits.

I worked for a Jobcentre over 25 years ago and the Benefits department did have surveillance team back then and I'm sure they do now. I'd also expect some housing benefit fraud cases must take months of surveillance and work to ensure the evidence is sufficient for prosecution etc.

1. You don't know that the person is from benefit fraud. 2. You don't know that this has any to do with you and 3. You don't know if all your neighbours claim benefits or not, I claim benefits but it's not something I'd speak to the neighbours about. They don't know if or what I claim and I don't know if or what they claim. Ultimately I think you are overthinking, if the person is making you feel worried speak to the police and also if you are a genuine claimant then you have nothing to worry about and to be fair I don't think if they had concerns about benefit fraud they'd be sat outside your house, I'm pretty sure they have to do investigations officially and write you letting you know, sending you for an interview, maybe arranging an appointment with your doctor or a home visit etc. Sorry OP but yabu.

Isn’t it?

You don't know why they're parking there.

Every other Thursday I escape and sit in the car and just read a book or listen to podcasts or do some admin online.

I care for an adult child with schizophrenia and home isn’t a happy place to be. Some there are regular times that people think I’m out running errands (if they ever bothered to ask) when I’m actually sat in my car with a travel cup and snacks just unwinding.

I had this. I never came over all action thriller, banging on their windows demanding to know what they were doing there, so I can't be sure they were DWP agents. But they do check up on claimants, they have the right to, and I wasn't cheating. I think it was about three weeks - they weren't there every day. There'd be one person sitting in a car right outside my house, with a clipboard, for several hours. Boring job!

i live on a very rural country road, the only vehicles I would normally see is a tractor or someone on a horse. On our mile stretch of road there’s 4 houses, mine and my neighbours and the other 2 half a mile away which they wouldn’t be able to see from where they’re situated as it’s round a corner. I am not being paranoid because the neighbour mentioned it before I had seen it (as I don’t leave the house I had no idea and as I can’t stand for long periods I don’t glare out of the window). And the person who said read a book, I do, frequently.

After seeing so many vile comments about benefit claimants on here, and right across the media, in the last few days, is it any wonder that claimants are feeling worried and vulnerable.

Do you think one of your neighbours might be prepared to go and knock on the window of one of these cars, OP? I can understand why it’s upsetting.

I would ring 111 and report them if it's worrying you.. Some random sat out side my house for ages once and I went out and asked what he was doing, he said his nan used to live in my house which was theoretically possible but he quickly drove off. Could your neighbour challenge him for you?

Ah OP I feel for you. I think it’s possible you’ve let a lot of anti-benefits rhetoric get to you maybe.
There is no way they’d be watching you for weeks- especially if there was nothing to go off! Different if you went skipping off out the door just when they first arrived or cycling a mountain bike with a loaded rucksack like you had a big hike planned..
They’d have long given up with what they would have seen, if they’d been there to watch you in the first place (deliveries and prescription delivery). That would undermine suspicion to even the lay man!
Stop stressing- it’s nothing to do with you.

Are there any houses for sale near you? Maybe estate agents/people waiting to view a house and nowhere else to park easily.

OP, this is what it's come to, benefits recipients like you concerned that they are monitored to this extent. I'm really sorry you feel this way. But can you imagine the cost if this was benefit fraud? Having inspectors sit outside people's houses for hours on end, not even the police has those resources. OP, I can only imagine that there wouldn't be a legal basis either. I would say: drug dealers, people scouting properties nearby, Uber drivers waiting for a ride, anyone who would have a reason to wait in a car. Maybe your neighbours could look in on you from time to time while this is going on, just for reassurance? If any criminal activity is going on, you would be justified in calling the police.

I’d start recording vehicle reg and call 101 . Could be county lines drop?

Can I ask why you think it’s benefit fraud stalking you and not jus a regular stalker?

Genuinely trying to be funny but it’s weird you thought straight to benefit fraud.
They would not do this.

Why do you think it’s for you and not a neighbour?

I dont think you are paranoid. I was really stalked by a neighbour and I was beginning to think no one would believe me, Once I got cctv it stopped.

Could be something like a private investigater checking if one partner is cheating. Evidence for a divorce. A bit hollywood yeah but these things happen.

As one or two posters have remarked surveillance of the kind you mention is very expensive and would only be undertaken for a major case. Its more likely that anyone stalking would do so at different times including evening and early morning to check whether the person was working.

There is likely some other explanation. I realise it would be difficult or intimidating for you to challenge the driver if you are a disabled vulnerable femaile with mobility problems. Is there a male person you could ask to approach on the lines of "Can I help you mate as Ive seen you here a lot lately, Are you looking for someone?" Could you ask the husband of one of the neighbours you are friendly with?

Chances are that if the driver is challeneged he will quickly leave and not return.

You have no idea why the car might be there.

This is highly unlikely to be them. There are a ton of people that DWP rightly or wrongly will have their suspicions about at any given time, they don’t have the resources to have someone sat outside one persons house for weeks on end especially when that person doesn’t set foot outside.

It is far more likely they work off of actual tips from someone reporting I.e “I know this person claims benefits on the basis of being housebound but he plays tennis every wendesday at X place” and they may then go there and try and get evidence of said person playing tennis. If said person fails to appear at the tennis courts after a couple of attempts they wouldn’t sit outside forevermore, they’d brush it off as a malicious claim.

Sorry OP just saw your second post.
Give the police a call on 101. They would rather you had peace of mind than be worried for no reason.
There are all kinds of things that could be surveyed I suppose- speeding vehicles, traffic amounts, if land was being purchased for development… maybe even watching farming activity for suspected dodgy dealings. The possibilities are endless.

If I were you I’d call the police and say what you’ve seen or been told and say you are concerned about potential break-ins.

one final thought - can you trust that your neighbour is accurate or honest in what they are saying?

Chill, FFS. From the description of your road, it could be a promising location for surveillance vehicles - but not for you. How fecking stupid do you think they are that they'd put anyone watching you in a location that's clearly visible to you? That's the kind of amateur-hour intimidation antics you get from employers' insurers, not the DWP/ BA - or even their contractors.

Much more likely if any surveillance is happening at all (other posters have suggested an array of reasonable alternatives) is that they're police/ HMRC/ similar & have someone within a couple of miles of you under surveillance. The parking on your street is handily secluded & they require multiple vehicles to tag in & out when that person's on the move because in surveillance rule #1 is "don't let the subject know they're being watched".

I mean re them seeing the car there (maybe I’m misunderstanding but it’s your neighbours that told you about the frequency or sm I mis-reading)?

We had a white van man who started parking up on my old street every day. A woman on the street had a crazy ex who'd previously roped mates into his stalking via various subterfuges, & she was terrified he'd found her again.
Turned out the guy was a contractor working far from home who had just found a convenient spot to do all his daily admin after the site shut each afternon.

I'm sure they have the time and money to waste on watching you for a month 🙄

Right, just seen your second post. Your location sounds so similar to mine I’m wondering if you’re my neighbour!

From my own experience of ‘people sitting in cars for ages on a country road’ its either someone surveying for speed traps, groundworks or electrical work…

Or its drugs.

It is most certainly nothing to do with you.

Quite possible. DH used to carry out traffic surveys, often on residential streets, and occasionally someone would ask why he orca colleague was there.