How to report someone for benefit fraud? - UPDATE

naijapower

The problem here is that benefit hotline receives thousands of calls daily. It is hard for them to check on all reports as you appreciate that some might be frivolous, false, malicious and unfounded.
It is time consuming to follow up on all calls as it might be very wasteful.
The calls they prefer are those with hard core and clear evidence e.g. someone claiming and working at a specified company.
Other than these types of calls, majority of the others are cumbersome and rigorous to follow up and may appear to be inconclusive.
They obviously have to prioritise staff and resources.
I fully understand your frustration as i have been there before. I have reported a former neighbour tons of times and nothing appeared to have been done. Luckily they moved out and i didnt have to deal with frustration of seeing them get away scott free on a daily basis

Glen0000

naijapower wrote: »

I fully understand your frustration as i have been there before. I have reported a former neighbour tons of times and nothing appeared to have been done. Luckily they moved out and i didnt have to deal with frustration of seeing them get away scott free on a daily basis

I do believe in what goes around comes around, but as you say seeing things like this on a daily basis makes me wonder if I am doing the right thing by being honest.

naijapower

I can assure you that you are on the right track by choosing to be honest.
Believe it or not, it is when people like me and you elect to do as these crooks are doing that probs would occur. i.e. We would get found out easily.....Dont ask me how or why but it seems thats the way life goes.
Growing up as kid, i remember seeing some of mates jump over a fence to watch a concert free and they succeeded. I was in two minds whether to report them asap or join them. I chose to join them by jumping over the fence.
As it turned out, it remains today as one of the biggest mistakes of my entire life as i was caught and humiliated instantly. While my mates sat comfortable and enjoyed the concert to the fullest.
My advise is to keep reporting. Dont be tempted in any shape or form

Mojisola

Glen0000 wrote: »

Ok an update on this situation. The single mum in question is now 4 months pregnant and getting married in 3 months.

She has told a relative that even after they get married she will still claim her and the bf live apart as he as another address and if so "they cannot touch her".

She is very open about her arrangement. I for one am outraged that the powers that be sit back and do nothing in these type of situations.

I think she's living in lala land if she thinks that she can continue to claim after she's married. Having more than one home doesn't let you claim as a single person!

SuziQ

By becoming angry and bitter about this,you are giving this dishonest person a certain power over you. In my experience,this sort of person gets a kick out of knowing they are winding people up-she would be thrilled to bits if she knew you were so upset about this. Learn to let it go-you have reported it and can do no more. Take pleasure in your own honesty and don't sink to her level. At least you don't have to keep looking over your shoulder or fear a brown letter or knock on the door-for all her bravado she may actually fear being caught. So concentrate on the things that matter to you now,she is not worth your time.

robpw2

SuziQ wrote: »

By becoming angry and bitter about this,you are giving this dishonest person a certain power over you. In my experience,this sort of person gets a kick out of knowing they are winding people up-she would be thrilled to bits if she knew you were so upset about this. Learn to let it go-you have reported it and can do no more. Take pleasure in your own honesty and don't sink to her level. At least you don't have to keep looking over your shoulder or fear a brown letter or knock on the door-for all her bravado she may actually fear being caught. So concentrate on the things that matter to you now,she is not worth your time.

yes i bet your right

cattie

Perhaps once she is married you could try reporting her again & giving as much info as possible.

It is possible your first report was not followed up on for some reason & if you try another report & nothing eventually happens then you will know that as far as DWP is concerned they are not going to pursue the matter.

It does seem a great pity that people are encouraged to help stamp out benefit fraud, but that some false claims seem to continue to be paid.

kurjam

gratton20 wrote: »

Sounds to me like the OP has an axe to grind, reported twice already - they DO look into reports, obviously they are satisfied .. just maybe the claim is genuine! It seems to me that every time someone is moaning about people working the system it turns out they are p**d off because they apparently dont get the same - well its simple if you fulfill the rules you get the money, if you dont fulfill the rules you dont get the money .. no-one is really robbing the tax payers except MP's, banks, rich people who avoid loads of tax, and multinational companies just my opinion of course!

i think what you will find is people are fed up because we go to work and we sometimes end up with less to live on than the people who fiddle the system... where i live there are many people who you see they sign on, then they hang around streets drinking cans of beer. and spending money in the pub....

immoral_angeluk

Even if they were doing something you wouldn't be informed about it because of confidentiality and the data protection act.