Benefit Fraud Advice...

thejedi

Hi everyone,

I have a question regarding benefit fraud and wondered if anyone would know what I can do.

I'm not sure if this is entirely correct; I am writing this on behalf of my father.

My father is living with a "lady" whom is currently being investigated for various thefts at her last place of work. She is now out of work, but in recent weeks appeared to have come in to a certain amount of money.

My father works from 6am - 4pm, so he is not usually around to pick up the post. He became suspicious of this new found money of hers, and when questioned, she said it was just money that was owed to her in various benefits.

Today whilst looking for some insurance documents, my father found some letters addressed in his name that he hadn't seen before.
He said they were from working tax credits, and he is supposedly getting £110 (a month? per week?). He knows nothing about this.
The money is being paid in to her account.

Does anyone know what he can do about this? He is extremely worried that he is going to be done for benefit fraud, even though it isn't him that has made the claim. I have recently found that the woman he is living with has been prosecuted for benefit fraud previously.

Sorry for not having more info - I hope to find out more soon.

System

Tell him to contact the Tax Credit Office as soon as possible to find out if there is a live claim with his name on it.
If there is and he suspects a fraudulent application has been made by the lady using his details then he needs to tell them so and they can stop paying out money.
For further clarification he can request a copy of the application form to see the signature entered on his behalf on the form.

If your dad has a driving license or a passport his genuine signature should be on it should he need to prove to TCO that it is not and never was his signature on the application.

McKneff

He needs to sit down and talk to her like two adults who live together.

I understand you are worried about your dad but try and be objective.

Did someone tell you about her benefit fraud or have you got absolute proof.

ILGPink

the best thing you're dad can do is phone TAX credits dept on 0800 300 3 9000 asap they are closed now as it passed 8pm but they are open 8-8 mon-fri and sat but not sure if its till 1pm or 4pm. They should be able to advise him where to ring and what to do.

He needs to find out how the claim was made and inform them HE did not make a claim and that they are being paid into her account. If she did make a paper claim then she will have signed this and they will be able to prove it's not you're dad's signature.

May sound a bit dramatic but perhaps you're dad would also benefit from speaking with the police. At a very basic level this would be identity theft also and in-order for you're father to again prove he has NOTHING to do with this fraud going to the police will log this and have a crime number.

I appreciate this will obviously be very hard for you're father as he is living with her and would have trusted her; but he now needs to think of him self and make sure he isn't implicated or dragged into her mess.

Sorry I cant offer anymore help. Good luck to your dad, and my thoughts are with him, must be a terrible shock to disscover.

thejedi

Pam17 - Thanks very much, I will pass that on.

McKneff - Sorry, I should have made that clearer. The benefit fraud was shortly before my father and the woman got together, it was something he didn't bring up until recently. I'm trying to be as objective as possible, and obviously, nothing can be done until we have more proof...
Thanks for responding so soon though!

thejedi

Thank you, ILGPink. This has really shaken him and hopefully we can get to the bottom of this.

AsknAnswer2

ILGPink wrote: »

the best thing you're dad can do is phone TAX credits dept on 0800 300 3 9000

Nowt to do with thread - just spotted this. Are they no longer using 0845?