how to report a fraud

John_T_5

I find it mildly amusing how so many people are willing to discuss people they know nothing about.

The harsh reality of benefit fraud is that the bulk of it is comitted by organised criminal gangs who defraud millions of pounds each year from the Benefits Agency.

The Government is demonising the individual rather than tackle larger scale fraud, not only are they creating a culture of spying on your neighbours, a classic tactic of any dictatorship, but it is also wide open for abuse, there are people who will happily grass someone up purely for spite, even if they have done nothing wrong. As far as the Benefits Agency is concerned the onus to prove innocence is on the accused.

One other issue is that the Benefits Agency fail to pay out over a billion and half pounds in entitled benefits a year through carelessness and deliberately keeping some claimants in the dark about the correct entitlements. Whilst individual benefit fraud is a problem, the amount defrauded collectively by individuals pales by comparison to that of what claimants are wrongly deprived of and what gangs take, perhaps some of you should focus your venom and vitriol on getting the Benefits Agency to tackle the largest part of fraud, organised gangs.

It makes me wonder how much of their budget actually goes on advertising hotlines and pursuing individual fraudsters.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Very true John_T couldn't agree more.

Not only are the hotlines used by people out for revenge, every person who "grasses" on someone for commiting benefit fraud gets what is known as "a blue giro", ie they get a sum of money for their troubles, if I'm correct it's £50. Nice little earner eh?

the_devil_made_me_do_it

dro wrote:

I think deary65 is pointing out that modern civilisation is about to end because of self certified mortgage fraud and that we should all start stocking up on tinned food.

ah I see.. thanks

fatblokexl

all fraud reports i know of work on a points scoring system. the more points the higher the risk the more keenly they will get checked out.
detailed info means more points, the more the detail the higher the score will be. staying anonymous lessens the points.
i know of someone who has provided as much detail as possible, to the point of being scary, about a case and after 3 months since the report was made there still appears to be no action noted as to the outcome.
these things can take time as lack of people to look into the "fraud" allegations

gregg1

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote:

Very true John_T couldn't agree more.

Not only are the hotlines used by people out for revenge, every person who "grasses" on someone for commiting benefit fraud gets what is known as "a blue giro", ie they get a sum of money for their troubles, if I'm correct it's £50. Nice little earner eh?

but that does not explain people who remain anonymous, and I am sure most people who report these frauds do remain anonymous - so how do they get that money?

Sorry, but I don't see these people as "grasses". The people who take money they are not entitled to are defrauding the taxpayer, thats you and me, that makes it a crime, whether its a gang or an individual. If you saw someone robbing someone in the street I am pretty sure most people would report it, just because it goes on in the guise of "benefit fraud" does not make it less of a crime surely. I just can't understand why people rush to the defence of people who do this sort of thing. Surely, its also not fair to the majority of honest benefit claimants who stick to the rules and only claim the benefits to which they are entitled.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Anonymous informants are given a code, which they give to a bank or whereever and claim the money that way.

Like I said, the majority of informants don't give two hoots about tax payers, it's usually a revenge thing. If they did care about the tax payer, why inform anonymously. Is it because they are in receipt of benefit aswell, and don't wanna declare this extra bit of income raised from being an informant??

MORPH3US

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote:

Like I said, the majority of informants don't give two hoots about tax payers, it's usually a revenge thing. If they did care about the tax payer, why inform anonymously. Is it because they are in receipt of benefit aswell, and don't wanna declare this extra bit of income raised from being an informant??

Sounds like you are speaking for all informants there when you say they don't care about the tax payer! I'm sorry, but it really annoys me when people make sweeping statements like that (o.k. you say "the majority" but can you back that up with facts?).

I would imagine (although I could be wrong!) that most people don't even inform to get anything out of it, I didn't even know they paid out any more, but if I was to report someone it would be because I work hard and honestly to earn my money, so why should someone else live illegally off my hard paid taxes!!!

Maybe people inform anonymously because they live on the same estate / in the same area and don't want any repercussions!

M

MORPH3US

John_T wrote:

I find it mildly amusing how so many people are willing to discuss people they know nothing about.

The harsh reality of benefit fraud is that the bulk of it is comitted by organised criminal gangs who defraud millions of pounds each year from the Benefits Agency.

The Government is demonising the individual rather than tackle larger scale fraud, not only are they creating a culture of spying on your neighbours, a classic tactic of any dictatorship, but it is also wide open for abuse, there are people who will happily grass someone up purely for spite, even if they have done nothing wrong. As far as the Benefits Agency is concerned the onus to prove innocence is on the accused.

One other issue is that the Benefits Agency fail to pay out over a billion and half pounds in entitled benefits a year through carelessness and deliberately keeping some claimants in the dark about the correct entitlements. Whilst individual benefit fraud is a problem, the amount defrauded collectively by individuals pales by comparison to that of what claimants are wrongly deprived of and what gangs take, perhaps some of you should focus your venom and vitriol on getting the Benefits Agency to tackle the largest part of fraud, organised gangs.

It makes me wonder how much of their budget actually goes on advertising hotlines and pursuing individual fraudsters.

How about we ignore anyone commiting a crime, unless we see a Mafia boss with black trenchcoat and fat cigar doing it, then we can all report them.

Lets just leave the individuals commiting fraud, they aren't doing any harm to anyone :eek:

the_devil_made_me_do_it

What repercussions?? The benefits agency ain't at liberty to tell the "fraudster" who it was who informed them of their illegal activities anyway.
That would go for anyone reported to the tax office too. I mean lets not forget those who commit tax fraud also.

MORPH3US

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote:

What repercussions?? The benefits agency ain't at liberty to tell the "fraudster" who it was who informed them of their illegal activities anyway.
That would go for anyone reported to the tax office too. I mean lets not forget those who commit tax fraud also.

I know that, you know that, but you see reports in the papers of "leaks" getting out and bad stuff happening.

If you do it anonymously then its guaranteed that no-one will ever find out!

M