Friends sponging off benefits, so disappointed

seven-day-weekend

I told one of my ex-lodgers I would shop him if he committed the benefit fraud he said he was going to commit. He looked and sounded horrified....but didn't commit the fraud....

(Edited to add...) And he remained our friend for another 20 years until his unfortunate death last year in his 50s.

lottee

Chrysalis wrote:

Oh sorry and my advice?

I wouldnt shop them because it is possible you may have read the situation wrong and end of the day it will have no impact on your tax income etc. and these people are your freiends, likewise I didnt say anything about the person I knew as it was my friend's girlfriend. (he was sleeping over working full time).

And if the situation has been read wrong, they have nothing to hide. It makes me laugh really, all these posts saying there is much more to worry about & your not a true friend are talking !!!!!! IMO.
I can't really say anything else, Mrs Optimist has said it all. Brilliant post.

Graham_Devon

Grass them up and then offer them all your second hand furniture! Win win situation!

Broken_hearted

Its wrong and it's sheer selfish greed. They could live on his wages without the baby suffering. I think you should shop them.

Broken_hearted

The friendship issue doesn't come into it, if a friend was stealing cars would you say oh its fine she's my friend.

Happychappy

Report it and get one of the thousands upon thousands kicking the !!!! out of the "benefit system" off our backs.

Jo_R_2

So out of interest, if any of you lot found out yr friends were doing a similar thing, how would you approach it? I'm not a dive-right-in sort of person, thus me not having said anything. I like to think it through because honestly? I don't know what I will do. Does that make me a bad person? Yes. And I probably would see things differently if there weren't a baby involved, I might be more forthright in voicing my thoughts to them.

I will speak to them. I couldn't just shop them without giving them a chance to put it right. But I can't agree with what they are doing.

lottee

TBH, all my friends & family have the same views on this subject as me anyway. But as you ask Jo-R! If by chance one of my 'friends' were commiting fraud, which is what it is - let's not dress it up as anything else, whether there was 1,2,3 or 10 babies involved I would report them straight away. Not sure if I'd mention anything or not to them......? Don't think I would, ok so it would give them a chance to 'put things right', but what above all the money they would have claimed already? And as above, if I were wrong, then they have nothing to hide anyway. Why the hell should we all work our backsides off, as to support someone who is sat on theirs getting everything handed to them, when they are not entitled. No thanks.

Anyone wanna be my friend ? ? ! !

peter999

Another little question.

Would someone who has reported their "friend" anonymously maintain that relationship (whatever the result), without telling them they had reported them ??

Personally I think it's impossible to maintain honestly without telling them, as if you mentioned to your friend, they would terminate with you very quickly.
.

ukdickie31

If you witnessed a crime costing thousands of pounds, and could do something about it, anonymously, would you report it ? Bet you would.

I would !

It's OK to moan about things in society as long as you are prepared to do something about it. It's like those that don't vote yet complain about the things wrong in the UK etc.

I would have no qualms about shopping someone who can sponge off the state fraudulently yet see their working friends scrape by.

The hard-working families that do the right thing get messed up by the system (Tax Credits, budgeting day by day, paying for school meals etc) but still keep going. .. Pride and responsibility take over. At least these people will live life without having to look over their shoulder every 5 minutes