Victim of benefit fraud

Paula94

You know this is so wrong. The case manager would be able to tell and contact debt recovery to request a suspension on repayment. Do you know the contact centre assigned? Ask for the SEO (big manager). Say this is example of UC flaws and contacted MP. We have a saying “Daily mail test” as in if a situation was to hit daily mail how would we look. This situation we would look compliant to fraud! 

calcotti

Hopefully now that banks have to match names along with sort codes and account numbers this kind of fraud will be slightly harder for the fraudsters.

John_

Deleted User said:

Yes I got told nothing can be done (I genuinely owed money which the DWP were not in any hurry to get (March to May I spent trying to get the DWP's attention) then suddenly hit with AOE with nothing else in the lead up too. Just simply told it was to late, nothing else could be done, but we'll apply hardship. (it really has been the only saving grace or so I hoped) Sadly they don't brother checking into the Employers they look to send these delightful knee jerk and public washing orders into - the first payment I had more taken out then then what was given over to them in the first month. The second month just forgotten about until I paid and I will bet nothing has happened in writing. I am seriously complentating paying the whole balance off and sending a letter recorded and then having to pursue my Employer for the missing money who also wanted to insist it was to late, as I really cannot bear to end up paying over the odds for a mistake made by DWP in the first instance by continuing with a farcical attachment of earnings. Everytime I have to deal with this situation I just encounter finding out more bad stuff so I'm sorry for your plight.

Every time?

How many times are you getting your numbers wrong?

MalMonroe

Dear OP, just wanted to add my support and say I would also contact my MP and perhaps write to the Guardian too.  Earlier this year my daughter wrote to the Guardian about a slightly different but very frustrating financial issue which was resolved almost immediately by their journalist. To our absolute amazement, they really can and do help.

Your employer sounds really wonderful btw.

Also, please don't drive into the nearest river!  

The_Kurgan

MalMonroe said:

Dear OP, just wanted to add my support and say I would also contact my MP and perhaps write to the Guardian too.  Earlier this year my daughter wrote to the Guardian about a slightly different but very frustrating financial issue which was resolved almost immediately by their journalist. To our absolute amazement, they really can and do help.

Your employer sounds really wonderful btw.

Also, please don't drive into the nearest river!  

Thank you for your comments.
Firstly, I don't intend to, twas a bit of melodrama to metaphorically state my frustration and apathy towards the rigmarole.
I have written an email to my MP last night, to which I received a reply this morning requesting a few more details. 
Hopefully, this will be the beginning of the end, but if I feel like I'm getting nowhere, then the Guardian may well be a viable option, for sure. 

tacpot12

calcotti said:

Hopefully now that banks have to match names along with sort codes and account numbers this kind of fraud will be slightly harder for the fraudsters.

I wonder if the DWP actually use COP or whether their systems bypass COP because of the volume of payments they make? 

I would like to thank Paula94 for trying to give us an insight of the situation with UC claims without breaking her duty to her employer. Thanks. 

Really, in every case of fraud, the bank should be required to account for how the fraudster was able to open an account in the name of someone else, or reimburse the DWP. I can see that COP is not going to solve the fraud problem greatly until it is extended to allows the DWP (and other verified institutions) to verify that the address on a claim matches the address on the bank account the payment is being made to. 

Ultimately the solution is biometric identification for bank account holders and benefit claimants and only paying benefits when there is a match. 

Robbie64

Article on the BBC News website regarding Universal Credit fraud from earlier this year. It involves 100,000 fraudulent claims and £1bn worth of benefits. Dozens of UC claims had been made using the same bank account details.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55022008

The_Kurgan

Just a quick update. 
I got a phone call earlier this week from a chap from the ID Theft team. He said he had reviewed all my previous calls to the various departments and also acknowledged the letter from to my MP. He stated that although, nothing will happen over night with regards to the investigation due to the current circumstances (that chestnut again!), however, he said after speaking with me he was going to contact the debt management department to get all proceedings halted pending the outcome of the investigation. He couldn't give me this writing though, which I found rather odd, but he hoped the relevant department would dispatch a letter to confirm that this is the case. I'm more concerned that they contact my employer with a degree of urgency to be honest.
I also finally got a reply from the case worker for my MP who simply said he would be in touch when he had further information. 
So, it feels like a step in the right direction, but there's still a degree of trepidation until I actually get something in writing. 
I will keep you posted. 
Thanks for all your messages and support. 

calcotti

See Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament

As at 8 December 2020, the total number of suspected cases of Universal Credit identity hijack referred to the Stolen Identity Team since 24 June 2020 was 5,894.

adoption

thanks for the info, really helped me a lot.