AIBU to consider reporting someone I believe is committing benefit fraud?

[Hereforadviceee]

Would you report someone for benefit fraud?

Just that. It’s someone I used to know quite well but drifted apart from mainly due to this and from time to time I feel angry that they have made a living out of coning the system and quite often people around them. They claim they can’t walk or leave the house but go to at least 6 countries a year and do a mix of sports regularly they post online.

It hits a nerve as a lot of my family members are genuinely disabled and have struggled to get the right support. This person doesn’t have to pay council tax has every benefit you can think of and will literally use a wheelchair whenever their pip stops then go back to the sports and hiking holidays they do regular whilst claiming they can’t work and they even have been awarded carers to come in and help them. I’ve known this person for nearly 2 decades and they started this in their teens and would often brag about it and how to do it and even helped other friends at the time get awarded benefits so it’s not a case I don’t know them enough to know it’s bullshit. I always thought they would grow out of it as their life progressed.

I don’t think I actually will mainly because I’m so worried they would guess it was me and they are known to be very vindictive such as reporting people to social services or emailing job places to try ‘ ruin people ‘but I guess I’d like to vent as myself and so many people work their socks off to break even each month.

Actually there’s a lot of routes being developed for disabled ramblers now.

i use a wheelchair and there’s a lot of Facebook groups I have joined where people have all terrain wheelchairs and go “walking” (riding) in their wheelchairs.

there‘s also a new initiative, miles without stiles which is accessible walks that can be used be people with no or limited mobility. I’ve done a couple of these “walks” and they are lovely.

https://lakedistrict.gov.uk/explore/things-to-do/accessible-routes/

Correct. Also this mention of videos concerns me. I've been a welfare benefits specialist for well over a decade, and whilst it's possible this claim might be on shaky ground, I can tell you that just diagnoses and some video will not secure an ER award. There is also nothing preventing holidays though this would be looked at in depth if the activities involved, jouneys etc go against criteria in the PIP descriptors where the claimant cited difficulty and these descriptors were scored positively thereby giving the overall award. The DWP also- believe me- will check social media after a report is received if they feel there is sufficient cause to do so. Many cases of fraud particularly in relation to disability benefits have been supported by social media evidence.
I have no yes/no answer to whether or not you should report that would be your decision, however, I wanted to clarify the above.

Re carers:

if you are self funding you can pay for whatever care or combinations of carer/cleaner/housekeeper you like (or are able to get).

if you are not self funding it is significantly harder and while most people are entitled to six weeks reablement care after leaving hospital getting longer term care requires convincing social services you need it and if you think PIP is tricky SS are even tougher.

I have a friend who is severely disabled and has waking care overnight plus carers in to do meals, personal care etc and she pays for a PA once a week to fill in all the forms SS require to keep the funding going.

All of which she has zero energy for or ability to do as she massively struggles as it is and personally I dont think she has the mental capacity to do.
She was treated badly, she was assured before agreeing to the surgery that she would get help, when they came in after she got no help at all.

I believe you, but I also think it would be hard for you to prove if she has medical evidence to support her case.

I have a relative whom I can't prove is making stuff up, but whenever money is tight or they no longer want to work they suddenly develop illnesses that are often diagnoses of exclusion where there's no singular test that can disprove illness. All her symptoms seem to manifest usually at work, after she's spent weeks moaning about how she's fed up with the job and just wishes she could quit but she's got no money and how it's not fair that she has to pay for her car when those benefit scroungers get their cars for free.

The issue is that you're up against a paper trail of evidence for illnesses that are not consistent, and when they decide to give you an award they look at the evidence and then read what you've put and they make a judgement based on whether what you've written is plausible with the evidence you've provided.

I can't disprove my relative has FND for example, although she's here most days and never has any symptoms, because she isn't here all day most days and it's when she's not here that she says she experiences them.

At the same time my FIL is very open about the fact he needs to make a doctor's appointment regularly to complain about the side effects of the medication they prescribed him last time having such adverse effects, despite the boxes being unopened in his cupboard, and how he needs to ask for a referral to yet another specialist knowing they will say his case is too complex, simply to build the paper trail. He even marks them in his calendar ahead of time so it looks reasonable. I HAVE reported him, I've provided photo evidence and written statements, I've written to his GP, and he has been investigated but because the evidence outweighs what I am saying, like his manufactured memory issues and saying "oh I just forget that I've already got a box of XYZ, I need help managing my medication and nobody is helping me" it goes no further than a preliminary call.

I've been asked to help my BIL apply for PIP, who appears to need it, but I've asked for his supporting evidence so I can build the best case possible but he's fucked off to Uganda to see his girlfriend, where he appears to be disability free and his supporting evidence has not been forthcoming so I have categorically said no. Being disabled isn't an automatic entitlement to PIP, and if he can travel solo halfway across the planet and cook, clean, shower, eat and manage his time for weeks then he does not qualify and I feel his issues are exacerbated at home through learned helplessness.

The issue is that if you don't understand how these conditions manifest, you couldn't reasonably challenge it, and if you do understand how they manifest and it rings true, you may even change your mind about challenging it if you find out something you didn't know before.

As I said earlier, I am on benefits and I know that some people could look at me and not see my disabilities or how I am supported to look and feel as "normal" as possible, and them not see all of the work that goes into making normal every day outings and tasks possible for me, so I like to err on the side of caution because we can't possibly know everything about someone unless you're extremely close, but a lot of what you say rings true about my experiences with other people who are on or applying for benefits.

The fact is we're not owed anyone else's medical history, and it's jolly hard to prove fraud.

I am not sure it is worth reporting. I have reported my neighbour more times than I can remember in the 4 years he has been claiming and nothing whatsoever has happened.

He claims he can't work because he can't leave his house due to such bad anxiety. Such a joke as he leaves his house at least 6 days a week to go shopping, meet his girlfriend, meet his son, go shopping again and, best of all, to work cash in hand for one of our neighbours.

So not only is he getting benefits he it not entitled to due to his lying he is also getting quite a bit of money (I know the neighbour pays him £10 an hour and he works between 3 and 5 days a week) he also is not paying any tax or NI. No wonder he can boast to us that he takes his girlfriend out for meals that cost £100 which he pays for!

The system sucks it really does.

Anyway, I was just making the point the kind of help op mentioned can be obtained via social care. It's crap not everyone gets the help they need and deserve.

Yes but we both know to obtain the ability to have a personal budget in order to get that, as you dont get that through direct care, you have to jump through a LOT of hoops and its not easy to get at all.

The fact is this whole story is crap, its got so many holes in, but that wont stop another benefit bashing attempt of a post.

This is provably nonsense.

I know people that have cheated the benefits system for YEARS including a family member who could have kept most of mumsnet quietly medicated for a month or two with the antidepressants she neither needed nor took.

But you don't have to listen to either mine or the OPs stories.

The benefit fraud bill was 6.5 billion in 2025 according to gov.uk. That is a huge number of people cheating and stealing. Taking money from honest working taxpayers and away from recipients that actually need it.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-2024-to-2025-estimates/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-ending-fye-2025#total-estimates-of-fraud-and-error-across-all-benefit-expenditure

If you had read the whole thread I have stated I’m on benefits myself.

Report her. If she's genuine it won't cause her any issues. Its likely any investigation would start with "desktop" check before even contacting her or anyone else for evidence and they wont dedicate resource to investigating it further unless they find something compelling.

There’s literally no point. People don’t want to believe that a small minority of people actually do this. If you question someone who has literally told you they do this and claims they can’t walk but climbs a mountain the next day I am a basher. It must make it harder for people making new claims.

Well if she's posting this sort of achievement on social media, they will have her bang to rights, won't they? Especially if someone happens to send them a copy of it. Or happens to mention the name of the place they do sporting activities.

How do you know what they wrote on the claim form & what evidence they submitted?

I work full time & compete at a fairly high standard in a sport & claim PIP. I'm not gaming the system or conning people!

Honestly op, do it. The government have powers to check financial records & travel data. If this person is (for example) on benefits for severe agoraphobia etc has travellee abroad several times recently they can see that quite easily. They can even surveil property.

If there's nothing to alert suspicion she'll likely never know she was checked out & can carry on with no impact.

Obsessive, gossipy and spiteful.

But when you report her, know that she absolutely will find out it was you.
When you go around watching and discussing people, walls have ears.
People also have mutual friends and enemies.
Some people with be smart at deducing things.
Not saying you shouldn't report her.
Just be careful if you do.

Thank you for the threat.

To be honest as her own family have made accusations of munchausens maybe not. I was only going to give a name if I did and leave it at that.

Ok so are you just glazing over the post where you tried to bring your mum into it and I asked why that was at all relevant? Or the posts of yours that make zero sense and all you respond is you are trying to be vague. Seriously next time you want to come up with a story, maybe take 10 minutes to sort all the holes first.

So now you are saying she is ill as munchausens is a mental illness. So make up your mind

There’s a lot of responses. A yes I find it hard to believe if you were genuinely disabled you be happy if someone told you they do this. I’m just guessing you enjoy winning arguments and left it at that.

I would report someone if I knew they were committing benefit fraud, not if I only believed it.

I have stated in the thread I don’t belive nothing is wrong with her but I do believe it’s wrong to claim you cannot walk, cannot leave your home and use a wheelchair if that is not accurate.

Get her reported. She won't go to prison if she has a child to care for. She'll just have to get a job to earn money and pay back her benefits money. It's people like her that make it hard for genuine disabled people to claim anything.
My friend's cousin is like this. Wants every diagnosis under the sun and now has moved on to the kids, even taking them out of school! It's a psychological condition in itself but it's going to ruin those poor kids' lives.

People can and do fake falls... Had a colleague who was previously fraud investigator-some of her stories were eye watering.

Personally I would report @hereforadviceee
This isn't just a bit of minor exaggerating... She's majorly committing benefit fraud.

She makes it much harder for folk genuinely disabled.

I have no need to prove anything to you, I couldn't care less if you believe me or not but I have years of lived experience of shit health unfortunately and ive had years of hearing twats that are clueless, I just have very little tolerance for it.

But you STILL haven't explained why me telling you that you seem obsessed with this woman and need a hobby meant you saying you will tell your wheelchair user mum to do this? It literally made no sense so its not surprising you ignored that. There aren't so many posts on here that you couldn't go back and read it and explain but you wont because like at least half of what you have said is utter crap.