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DWP Debt Management Letter - UC Advance - Scam?

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jrhys
jrhys Posts: 44 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
edited 10 May 2021 at 6:51PM in Benefits & tax credits
Hi

I received a letter today (dated 01/05/21) from DWP Debt Management claiming I owe £1049.90. It requires that I go online and pay or my employer will be contacted / debt collectors engaged. I have never made a claim on UC or any other benefit to my knowledge and so at first I thought this was a scam letter, but googling revealed that others have experienced the same thing and it is most certainly a legitimate letter, albeit caused by fraud: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/nov/14/universal-credit-fraud-scam.

The online "repay-my-debt" process shows me that a UC Advance for this amount was paid on 15th October. I think it was around this time last year that we had our communal post room vandalised, so I suspect someone had stolen some letters providing them enough details to claim a UC advance under my name.

Any ideas what options I have to get this sorted? - I'll start calling the UC number and DWP debt management number tomorrow (they are quieter on Tuesdays apparently). If the fraudsters have done this to me, I suspect others in my building may be next.
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