Caught for Fraud and arrested yesterday

[debbieb1980]

No excuses as I was caught red handed doing something I really should not have been doing.

I have been wrongly claiming whilst working due to a lot of money issues and now need to face the consequences of my actions.

My recent past caught up with me late yesterday evening when I was arrested at my workplace just before finishing my shift, I then had to go to the police station and have been in there til an hour or so ago.

Scared I will now end up in prison though if I do I know it is self inflicted, looking for any advice.

Good luck with the solicitor. At least you'll know your options and the range of likely sanctions.

It does seem like a waste of resources to sneak around like private detectives for 3 months, hiding behind lamp posts and taking photos and so on.
They could have asked the employer for details or got police permission to look at wage history and tax contributions.

You’re only truly mortified because you were caught again, I’m sorry but if you were truly my mortified that should have kicked in during the initial investigation. You denied it the first time because of lack of evidence presented to you and only confessed this time because they showed you photographs.

If they hadn’t have turned up at your place of work you’d still be claiming it. Four years, four years! That’s not an accident, that’s intentional and as you wasn’t entitled to claim I’m presuming you was earning high enough not to qualify.

I can’t understand why the Police and those who are not offering you tea and sympathy are being demonised in some of these responses, odd.

The presumption you’re in poverty when you don’t qualify, for the sake of your daughter I hope you’re not given custody but you made an intentional fraudulent claim over a period of years, you were caught and denied it and then carried on.

Whatever you do, don't feel pressured to take out a high interest loan or something in an attempt to pay back more than you can afford. You'll end up in an even worse mess.

Insist upon a repayment plan being set up which is within your means. It can be spread over 20 years if need be. Your solicitor can advise.

I never at one point suggested it was an accident, was intentional and aint denying it.

I will face up to any consequences that come my way from now on, didnt come on at all looking for synmpathy only for a bit of advice and I am greatful for all the helpful responses.

Leaving soon to go to speak to my solicitor.

Was your dwp interview under caution? Because at that point they would have had proper evidence I’d have thought. This is a proper legal interview.
If it was just an interview not under caution they’d have had their suspicions and invited you to come clean.
What evidence did they have at that interview?
I’d have thought it would be easy enough to look up your tax records and see that you were working or speak to your employer, no idea why they needed to watch you for 3 months.

I read that they watch people claiming dla or parents claiming single tax credits as it’s necessary to prove if they have that disability or if someone lives with them, so this situation is a bit bizarre.

But regardless, don’t speak to anyone else without a solicitor.

Honestly it's not a waste of resources.
A single Compliance officer at dwp will uncover fraud of 100s of thousands of pounds over a year.
People are give plenty of chance to fess up.

I can't see you getting a custodial sentence op. You're gonna be up shit creek with no job no benefit and paying back £12k

I'd be in there begging my employer for my job today if I were you.

Is this your first offence op? X

What I would also say is if you’re issuing your name, dob, location and amount involved OP I’d ask for the thread to be modified or deleted as it’s potentially very identifying and I’m sure you don’t want that added to the situation.

*using

Honestly it's not a waste of resources

It is if they spent 3 months taking photos, rather than asking her employer whether she worked there or not.

I really hope some of the posters on here never find themselves in a difficult situation and having to make difficult decisions.

Even the most sane and rational human beings make completely irrational decisions when they're frightened and feel backed into a corner.

OP I was a fraud investigator in a previous life and for what it's worth I think DWP have been a bit harsh on you. When they interviewed you even though you denied working they should have presented you with their evidence, especially if it was an interview under caution.

After which they should have told you that they would be making a decision whether to prosecute or not.

To not tell you what they had and let you go away thinking it was all ok, then to pass their file to the police to come and arrest you just screams to me of an investigator on a fucking power trip. It goes against anything I would ever have done and everything I was taught when training!

I can't offer any advice really that others already haven't, I've seen fraud cases (not benefit) for lesser amounts result in custodial sentences and I've seen benefit fraud cases for much higher amounts than yours result in community orders.

It really does come down to the circumstances at the time (or why you did it) and how much remorse you show and to a degree, the judge on the day (as you've seen by this thread views on benefit fraud differ hugely!!)

I hope it turns out as well as it can do for you in the end

You need to find a lawyer with practical knowledge and experience of defending complex benefits cases.
I went into the law because an ex boyfriend was charged with housing benefit fraud back in the 90's.
Thankfully, he pleaded not guilty and so a trial date was set. I spent hours delving into the benefits system and discovered that he hadn't fraudulently claimed anything but that the Council's records were wrong.
Luckily, at court, when the charges were read out and he was asked for his plea, he confirmed not guilty, and only then were all the charges dropped by the prosecution for lack of evidence. If he had pleaded guilty, he'd have been sentenced and given a criminal record even though he was innocent.
Duty solicitors in this type of case are generally crap - because they are not benefits specialists. They are more used to dealing with assaults etc.

Just sending you some OP. Being the agent of your own destruction is always worse than anything anyone else can do to you. I hope your solicitor has helped take away some of the uncertainty you must be feeling right now - once you know the range of likely penalties, at least you can start making contingency plans.

Nice little backhander when you can get it.

Well done for keeping it up for four whole years - that must have took some doing.

Ah well, no harm done.

newimproved Great that your ex got justice in his case, but OP's is hardly comparable, doesn't seem complex, and she's not 'not guilty', so am not sure what your point is except that you did a good job back then. OP is guilty, admits it (finally), and is in no way a victim of crap councils or crap solicitors. No doubt many are, but not in this case.

Did they really need to do all he sneaking around? Isn’t it pretty easy to find out your earnings via your NI number? That’s what happened when we applied for tax credits, we had calculated our earnings incorrectly and they just checked against NI no’s. Or is it different for different benefits?

(We weren’t being deceitful btw, we did tell them outright that it was an estimate only)

It's not sneaking about, it's investigation.

What tends to happen in these cases is you will be fined, will have to pay a victim surcharge. If the amount is high and the prosecution is gunning for you, you might get a suspended sentence. Custodial sentences are very rare, especially if you have children. Sometimes you'll be asked to pay the amount back over time, but that does always happen either. Obviously you'll have a criminal record.

When did you have your compliance interview ? Are your employers paying you cash or through. The books ?

That’s what I’m wondering not, because if it was all legit, there wouldn’t be much ‘investigating’ needed surely?

Isn’t it pretty easy to find out your earnings via your NI number?

That's assuming that the OP has been working "on the books" and going through payroll. Given that she has deliberately set out to deceive by lying about working, I wouldn't be surprised if it were a casual, cash in hand type job which she didn't declare to HMRC.

This is not a case of someone not knowing, or not understanding the system, or getting into a pickle and really being genuinely unaware that they were doing anything wrong. OP admits she was claiming and working, knew it was wrong, lied about it when explicitly asked, and then carried on.

I cannot believe the number of posters prepared to make excuses for this. Yes it's unlikely that OP will go to jail. But she will be epxected to pay it back - all of it - and a conviction for fraud is going to rule out a lot of jobs in the future.

I also wondered if the employers were paying cash in hand. Would explain all the subterfuge then.

All you can do is take your lumps now OP. Financial crime does get punished more severely than, say, DV, but however much we debate that it won't make any difference for your circumstances.

Resources DWP investigators don't spend days on end following one person around. The get a rough idea of when and where a person is working/playing sport and turn up in that window to try to collect photographic evidence. So if you walk into the building at 0850 and out at 1730, they'll sit there from half eight for twenty minutes, get the shots and leave. Turn up at quarter past five, get the shots and leave.

They don't investigate one thing at a time, they manage a caseload and may have been out for eight hours on 15 different investigations.

I nedc to get off this thread, I need to prep for my DWP review. They want to check that I still have the incurable illness that has nearly killed me twice and destroyed my working life. They don't think a GP, two consultants and a surgeon are the right people to judge my health. I mean, it's not like they have the appropriate skills and resources to make that decision is it?