Reporting benefit fraud? Is it taken seriously?

greenisblue

If I reported Benefit fraud, how seriously would it be taken? Me and my three daughters where living happily up until 11 months ago when a gangster want-to-be moved into our neighbourhood and has now trashed it to bits. Now the girls fear to go outside and play.

The person in question has been arrested several times and has attempted to break into the neighbours home in broad daylight. (Yes you heard that right. Called his friends around to help and all.) Failed of course, and it went unreported. All this aside, I know the police won't do jack regarding the above seen as their to busy chasing down the real baddies with no road tax (cherching!) so I started examining this persons movements.

The two homes down the street where vacant, one day out of no where, they where suddenly occupied. Couple of weeks go by and I notice that the person in question walks in and out of the other house. Not long go by and I notice that the person in question has a girlfriend who lives right next door, who happens to have two kids.

I know for a fact the person in question has no job, and no way in hell could afford to pay £380 for two homes + bills + council tax + the fancy Nissan 350Z he has parked outside that he said he'll kill any of the kids he sees near it.

From what I've gathered, the person in question took one child into his "care" and let the girlfriend keep the other (on paper) then some how managed to find two homes side-by-side and have housing benefit pay for them. From what I've heard, if a child in under 7 years old, you can claim lone parent benefits and it looks like this is whats going on but with both the kids staying at the mothers home next door, whats even worse is, he never makes use of the second home, and only uses it as a place to "crash" with his drug buddies.

Another thing to note is everyone knows the person in question is a drug dealer, even the police. Outcome? A dramatic arrest and he was back on the streets within 24 hours.

If I where to report this, what will actually happen? Or am I wasting my time? Me, and everyone else just wants them GONE! Of course we don't talk about it with each other, and hell no will any of us raise it publicly, but everyone knows what everyone is thinking.

It's not fair that I have to pay income tax and national insurance to fund that pig, and its not fair that I have to pay council tax that funds the police who would probably just tell him to "stop it."

What can be done about this? Any advice would be really appreciated.

dmg24

The report will be fully investigated, however it may take several months to get anywhere because of the current Compliance workload and the complexities of building a case. Furthermore, even if they do take action you may never know, such cases rarely result in a custodial sentence. The other option is of course that he is living off the proceeds of crime and not claiming anything, which would be a police matter.

dmg24

greenisblue wrote: »

It's not fair that I have to pay income tax and national insurance to fund that pig, and its not fair that I have to pay council tax that funds the police who would probably just tell him to "stop it."

This is not fair to the police - to build a case they need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he has committed a crime. It is one thing people in general knowing what he is doing, and quite another to prove that to a jury of strangers. Finally, remember that the police do not decide whether to prosecute or not. They are probably as frustrated as you.

oddbod19

If he or his partner are claiming for certain types of benefit when they should not, then report it to the social (DWP now)

If he or is partner are claiming housing benefit when they should not, report it to your local authority

If he is doing anything that is criminal then report it to the police.

You should be able to report them all online, if you are not happy with ringing up and speaking to someone.

However in the end, before any type of action would be taken, there would have to be evidence and not just heresay. This could take months to gather and nothing maybe found if he is good at covering his tracks.

greenisblue

dmg24 wrote: »

This is not fair to the police - to build a case they need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he has committed a crime. It is one thing people in general knowing what he is doing, and quite another to prove that to a jury of strangers. Finally, remember that the police do not decide whether to prosecute or not. They are probably as frustrated as you.

The guy is a known criminal, and not a new face to the police. I have seen them come around once when he was drunk out of his mind threatened to kill a bunch of people screaming out door numbers. Result? They told him to (quote) "Stop it XXXXX, go inside."

You loose your drivers license, have your car towed and crushed if you couldn't afford to pay your car insurance, yet people like this can live so freely publicly, it makes me sick. The reason no one is raising this is because we know he'll probably come back and do his worst.

dmg24

greenisblue wrote: »

The guy is a known criminal, and not a new face to the police. I have seen them come around once when he was drunk out of his mind threatened to kill a bunch of people screaming out door numbers. Result? They told him to (quote) "Stop it XXXXX, go inside."

You loose your drivers license, have your car towed and crushed if you couldn't afford to pay your car insurance, yet people like this can live so freely publicly, it makes me sick. The reason no one is raising this is because we know he'll probably come back and do his worst.

Look at it from the perspective of the police - dragging him in over every little thing will not solve anything when there is a far bigger issue to get him on. Sometimes it is more productive to deal with an issue on a seemingly informal basis, in order to eventually overcome a far bigger issue.

I don't envy you at all, I have had nightmare neighbours, including a murder next door (and that was after I moved away from what I thought were bad neighbours!). However I do think that you overestimate what the police can do in the short term, and you (hopefully) underestimate what they will do in the long term. People like this man will always get caught in the end.

Sharon87

greenisblue wrote: »

The guy is a known criminal, and not a new face to the police. I have seen them come around once when he was drunk out of his mind threatened to kill a bunch of people screaming out door numbers. Result? They told him to (quote) "Stop it XXXXX, go inside."

You loose your drivers license, have your car towed and crushed if you couldn't afford to pay your car insurance, yet people like this can live so freely publicly, it makes me sick. The reason no one is raising this is because we know he'll probably come back and do his worst.

Well also report his no tax to the DVLA/police, as he won't be insured if it's not taxed, then maybe his precious car will get crushed if he doesn't pay the fine and other charges. Just give the registration to the police and details of the car, then if they see him driving around and spot check his car, they can pull him over.

diolch

My God have you nothing better to do with your life?

We're back to the days of the old ladies sitting under the guillotine doing their knitting waiting for the next head to fall in the basket next to them.

Just ignore them. getting involved may backfire on you in a big way! Les Dawson come to mind!!

ceecee1

I just wanted you to look at this from the perspective of a DWP investigator.

They presumably have obtained tenancies and are claiming rent and benefits from next door houses. It will be near impossible to prove which house they are living at. Even if someone sat outside the house 24 hours a day they will be probably be coming and going from both houses.

You mention that he is a drug user and is known to the police to be 'violent' or threatening. If the DWP contact the police to see if the house is safe for a member of staff to be sat outside on their own - do you think that the police would say yes?

If he is living above his benefit income, they could check if he had any bank accounts, but if the money is from criminal activity they are not likely to find anything.

Yes, all reports of fraud are taken seriously, but there are limits to what is possible. Some people think that they are above the law of the land and they are problems to more than one agency. Some of them are targeted by the Police, DWP, LA and other agencies to undermine their criminal activities. But this depends on how serious a criminal they are.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't report them, but you need to give as much information as possible to go on. Otherwise they will probably just get a visit to check that there are in fact, 2 separate houses. To be honest, reporting them to the DWP will not solve your problems, which seems to be that you have a problem neighbour.

cit_k

greenisblue wrote: »

The person in question has been arrested several times and has attempted to break into the neighbours home in broad daylight. (Yes you heard that right. Called his friends around to help and all.) Failed of course, and it went unreported.

Why did you or the person who lived in the house in question not report that crime?

diolch

cit_k wrote: »

Why did you or the person who lived in the house in question not report that crime?

Would you with that type of guy running amok?