MSE News: Single parents sent 'threatening' letters demanding proof they live alone

Poppie68

IMO this is a phishing exercise that is going to be getting out of hand sooner rather than later....They don't seem to have the telephone systems or staff to deal with their own requests...It's a farce from the off.
No doubt they have already started to rattle the cage of those who are in 'denial' of living with a partner...Unfortunately the innocents always seem to get dragged down along the way and I would suggest any genuine claimant who is struggling with the farcical company to contact their MP's .

Cornucopia

There ought to be strict controls on the use of scam techniques like phishing by public authorities.

It's not acceptable to use scare tactics, fake demands or guesswork against innocent people simply to drive out offenders from within the same population.

dori2o

Cornucopia wrote: »

There ought to be strict controls on the use of scam techniques like phishing by public authorities.

It's not acceptable to use scare tactics or fake demands against innocent people simply to drive out offenders from within the same population.

How do you know it's a scam/phishing exercise?

Every case I have ever seen regarding this there has been some evidence/data held that is sufficient enough that contact with the claimant should be made. Whether that information comes from data held on customer records, from other Gov departments, other data systems such as CRA's or possibly through reports to HMRC/DWP directly from a 3rd party, it makes no difference.

The Public have demanded further investigation into potential fraud, it is inevitable that some genuine claimants will be caught up in it.

Surely if it was a phishing exercise then every single claimant would have received a letter.

Cornucopia

None of the first-hand reports I've seen about Concentrix letters (as opposed to the ones sent by HMRC themselves) have admitted significant cause for suspicion.

In some cases, people are reporting that their partner left 9 or 10 years previously.

I agree that (unfortunately) there is a kind of dimwitted narrative on issues like this (same with sub-prime mortgages). The public are encouraged to think in very black & white terms, but the truth is that there are degrees of evidence, and someone has to make a decision about how strong the evidence needs to be. When the decision point is moved, more people are brought in to the "query" net, when in truth their factual situation has not changed.

Fortunately the Courts have set the rules, based on the legislation (see earlier in the thread), and it doesn't look great for HMRC.

GirlFromMars_2

I'm not affected by this, but I can easily see how it could be problematic, especially if it was an acrimonious split and the ex isn't helping.

I bought a flat a year ago, and it has taken me all year to get the previous owner and his wife off the electoral register. I believe I've finally got his wife off the register, but the husband is still registered here, and will still be registered here until I ignore one final letter to him (there have been many letters to him from electoral services, and many phonecalls from me to electoral services telling them that he does not live here).

I don't get the reliance there now is on credit files, especially as we are charged extortionate amounts to see and fix problems with our own credit records (not to mention having to answer obscure and impossible questions to access them in the first place.)

When I bought my flat I was able to set up the landline and broadband in advance of moving, everything went through just fine. When it came to switching my mobile package to the same provider things went very wrong, and I was turned down because there was a problem with my credit record. After a lot of frustration and difficulty accessing the records in the first place, it turned out the problem was that I wasn't on the electoral register yet at the new address. Because I had just moved to the new address. Which the phone company knew about because they'd just put in a new landline for me, and were aware of both my old and new addresses. But no, that wasn't good enough for them, apparently I had to wait months to show up on the electoral register so that my credit record would also know that I really had moved.

If they are going to rely on credit records for benefits, we really should have easier cheaper access to them so that we can fix problems without having to pay some company a fortune to monitor their errors.

Cornucopia

Credit Files really aren't designed to be used in this way. The whole point of them is to leave lingering traces of bad borrowing behaviour.

If it's not illegal to misuse databases in this way, it probably should be.

liverpool_mum

hi im new here I had concentrix letter I am single parent of 2 young boys, I called concentrix and got through after about 5 minutes, I spoke to a woman and said I revieved a letter stating you may have evidence I am living with a partner or another adult so what evidence do you have as its only me and my 2 youngs sons that live here. her reply was we send hundreds of these letters out each week you need to read the back of letter and send in what we ask for, I then said so whats the evidence you suggest on letter about another adult she said it maybe you recieve letters for a previous tennant which is correct I have lived here for nearly 2 years but I do still recieve some of their post. also i would like to add my surname was mis spelled on the elcotoral register and I was receiving post from credit card companys etc in the mis spelled surname, I called my local council to confirm my surname was spelled with a b not a p and I asked to be taken off the open elcotoral register wether this had something to do with it or not I dont no but anyway I sent my letters in to concentrix last week havent heard nothing back yet but I did advise didnt have bank statements to hand as my accounts are paperless they said it was fine and to just send everything else in as much as possible, I will let you know my outcome.

Caroline_a

About 30 years ago I had a neighbour who worked for the (then)DHSS. His job was in the Fraud team, checking up on whether people were claiming fraudulently. Some of the stories he told were straight out of a comedy sketch, including the chap who crawled out of his front door, up the path and up the road to his car who thought he was avoiding a camera (when he was actually being watched by 2 people in a car across the road) - he was working cash in hand and claiming.

However, the thing that stuck in my mind was that the majority of people investigated for fraud, be it living with someone and claiming to be a single person, or working as per the chap above, were all reported by so-called friends and neighbours. He said that they rarely had to look at claims that might be questionable because of all the whistle-blowing (both correct and incorrect) that came in.

missapril75

tomtontom wrote: »

It would be helpful to see the full text of this letter, so people can see what it actually says and not a few vague quotes.

So that looks like a "no" then.

I've seen similar accusations of "threatening letters" from the TV Licensing people on other forums and allegations of all sorts.

Then the actual letters were made available and there was nothing more than a GENERAL reminder that viewing without a licence was an offence.

Very similar sort of words used on just about every application form going, whether it be for a bank account, loan, benefits, insurance document, other permit or licence, job application, customs declaration, passport etc etc

Jibjab48

seren77 wrote: »

I have no objection to anyone checking up on anyone's details re benefits. However, the letter from Concentrix could have been worded in a more sensible way. It states that they have 'strong evidence' that I am not single. My partner died ten years ago. We had no joint finances or benefits. I assumed some idiot had tried to shop me because my adult son lives with me. I didn't realise (until I saw this thread) that it's a generic letter they seem to be sending out to a lot of people. I rang Concentrix immediately, got through straight away, explained that I live alone apart from my children and they said that was fine and not to bother sending anything in. I had a letter 2 days later saying they had completed their check and that I didn't need to take any further action.

I wish I had spoken to the same person as you. I rang twice and told them of my situation but they could not tell me the name of the person I was allegedly living with. I still had to send all of my information.
My main worry with all of this is not that I have something to hide but the fact that I have had to send my life in an envelope to a po box !!