aquaintance is frauduntly claiming benefits..... aibu to want to shop her

[ratherstayanno]

I cant say its a friend. Its more of an aquaintance. She is also 'sort of friendly' with someone else i know.

She was seperated from her husband. They both had seperate houses. He would go to hers everyday to help look after their DD, she would walk his dog and her dog. They weekly go dancing and socialise together.

Shes alwasys saying how skint she is, cant afford nursery, shopping in farm foods and car boots. End of last year and all of a sudden she is going on a 3 week holiday to america. With him.
Bit odd i thought, but then i hear they are back together. Apparently he stays everynight, but just takes a carrier bag of stuff. They both still have their own ( mortgaged) houses.
She is still claming single persons tax credits. I know this for a fact.
He has just brought her a new car and they have booked 2 holidays before june this year.

She was invited, with her child to a recent fundrasing event. She asked if she could bring her husband along.

This is relevent as shes not hiding the fac they are back togther, but is still openingly claiming tax credits for single person.

It sort of bothers me. But i dont know if i should actually do anything about it or not.

Also, I like the fact that this person is just an "acquaitance" and yet the OP and her seemed to have had many very detailed conversations about her finances and the fact that she is committing fraud.

teeth itching

look rather it is not up to you to decide whether they are doing something wrong. If you suspect they are, report them and see what the investigation says. That's all you can do.

cranky - exacally. They arent loosing money, and will, when they sell both houses, have benefited from the wrongly claimed money.

This ' bloke' is also her husband. They have never been divorced. No divorce procedings have ever been started.

If you're going to defraud the system then it's probably wise not to blab to all and sundry about your living arrangements. So if she's claiming stuff she shouldn't and gets investigated because of it then that would be her own fault really.

If your certain they're living together and she's claiming as a single person then report her and let the authorities deal with it.

I agree with HeQet though that it doesn't make financial sense to be keeping two households going.

Also, you said that they are back together but she doesn't want him to move back in. Sounds fair enough to me. If I were to start a relationship but didn't want to move in together it wouldn't be fraud to still claim as a single person.

I don't think paying for a car and holidays is relevant really.

she is an aquantance. I wont call her a friend as i dont like her.
I bump into her dog walking.

so while you're walking your dogs she tells you all about her finances?

Sounds totally normal and believeable.

Get a new schtick I'm bored of this one.

its pointless saying anything else as you have already decided what you are going to do.

If they are both working, it doesn't make financial sense to live apart for the sake of a bit of tax credit money. It just doesn't. So when something makes no sense, you have to re-examine it.

It does not make financial sense to maintain 2 households so you can get a bit of tax credit money.

Therefore, regardless what she's said, there must be some reason why they choose to maintain 2 households when it is to their overall financial disadvantage.

So maybe she laughs and says "oh, if he moves back in I'll lose the tax credits hahaha"
When what she really means is, "I want to give him a second chance, but when he slept with my sister he hurt me so badly that I can't move on, so we have to keep a bit of distance and take things slowly, I'm not ready to have him move in yet. What if he sleeps with someone else again?"

Why would she tell an "aquaintance" her relationship business. Maybe she makes jokes instead.

Because you don't know what's going on between them, do you?

And when I say they are 'losing' money, I mean that they would have more to gain financially if they combined incomes and ran only one house. So yes, they are losing money. They are spending more money than they would need to and spending more money than they would lose on tax credits if they moved in properly and only ran one house.

but how is it different 'living there' than actauuly going straught from work to her house, eating tea, staying the night and going to work from her house.
According to her he goes to his house at lunch time and picks up clean clothes.
Thats it.

Shes not starting a relationship with him, Since they split up they saw each other daily, had night outs weekly. went on holidays together, thats hardly STARTING a relastionship is it.

yes she does tell me when we walk the dogs. Ive been bumping into her when i waslk the dog for 2 years though.

rather....you ignored my question....she works??
and child maintenence?
and how much was her last gas bill?

I have been this woman (according to outsiders), although I had no morgate, I got full HB for part of the time we were living seperate and paid full rent the rest of tyhe time. As Heqet is pointing out, it does NOT make financial sense to do this just for the sake of money.

We are far far better off financially now we are living in DHs house and are 'together' offially.

I think the truth is probably that she is keeping him at arms length for now and making ity easy to end again, for reasons which she wants to keep private.

She is not doing it for financial gain. It's costing them extra.

he never did anything like that. She decided to leave him apparently as she thought he was a bit boring and didnt want to live her life like that.

Of course, this is all from what she has said. Noone of it could be true.

But if you are going to go round saying things to poeple about how you are WRONGLY claming stuff then its her own fault.

weather it makes sense or not is by the by. Its not me thats doign it.

whats the point in you asking, you have made your mind up, from what I can see you dont like this person one bit, and this is how you can get your cumuppintance up on her!

Report her if you like, but remember Karma sucks!

whats the point in posing do I report her or not, when you dont want to hear others opinions other than your own!

yes, she works part time.
He doesnt pay childmaintence. According to her they have a joint account and finances are run the same as when they were ' living together'.

like i said, i dont know. this is whats shes told me. if it makes sense or not is of no importance, its still wrong what she is doing.

Let's be honest shall we OP?

Let's lay all the cards on the table.

1. You really dislike this woman.
2. You'd love to put the boot in
3. You are not willing to listen to anyone else; you just want to make her life difficult and dress it up as some sort of moral outrage.

The End.

If my husband was cheating on me/beating me/a general areshole, I think I'd make something up to tell the woman I see whilst walking the dog. Rather than admit to the whole ugly truth.

I know someone who I suspect of doing similar. I'm not shopping them because a) I don't know for certain and more importantly b) it would mess up her child's life and I've no wish at all for that. So I'm keeping it buttoned and hoping I'm wrong.

no, not at all., Ive never in my life put the boot in, to anyone.

I dont like her, but i dont dislike her.

What i dont like ie people playing a system that was set out to help people in genuine need.
IT IS STEALING.

What i like even less, is people then bragging about how they are playing the system.

If she hadnt of said anything to me i would have been none the wiser. Its not like ive set out a personal vendetta aganist her! lol.

Jeez.....

Shiny, that is true. But then, she didnt have to say anything to me at all did she.

I didnt ask for all the details of her life. I dont care. She just comes out with it all.

tbh id rather not know.

ah, but I don't actually belive what you're saying. You've got an answer for everything but none of it stacks up.

You're going to report her anyway, so why not toddle off and do that instead of getting on my nerves.

no, im not eaten up with jealously

why would i be.

what she is doing is still wrong. howver you try and spin it onto me. its wrong. Ive not comitted fraud. SHE HAS.

I actually work in a deprived area with families. They are the ones in need. Even £20 a month extra would make a difference to them. Yet, she, Takes several hundread a month, and thinks its funny.

Mind you, if this board is showing a consensus view of benefit fraud, then her attitude fits right in.

If you don't care about her life, then why are you sticking your oar in it?

You never did answer my question rather.. would you do the same to a friend?