DWP Debt Management Letter - UC Advance - Scam?

jrhys

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.

calcotti

Long thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6217773/victim-of-benefit-fraud/p1

Unfortunately DWP Debt Management are usually incredibly hard to deal with but I hope you can at least get them to suspend any action pending further investigation. If not you may want to involve your MP.

Alice_Holt

I'd second calcotti's suggestion of involving your MP.
I'm sorry to say that the chances of getting a sensible and emphatic response from DWP Debt Management is remote. 
I'd tend to write, as well as phone, with letters copied to your MP

huckster

Report it as a fraud and get a crime reference number to provide to DWP Debt Management.

Consider sending a Data Protection subject access request to DWP to obtain more information.

Suggest getting a copy of your credit record, just in case your indentity has been used for other financial applications.

Clouds88

The only way I got my DWP tax credits problem resolved was by raising a formal complaint. The address is easy to find when you Google it.

jrhys

Cheers team. Any suggestions on other things to do besides what I've already done below?
I've not got hours to spend on hold to the DWP and UC folks during 9-5 (or 8-6) working days so email has been my focus thus far. I've:

• emailed my MP, the SoS for the DWP, the BBC and the Guardian. I cc'd my MP into all but the BBC one (I forgot).
• fudged the 'report benefit fraud' form to get my case across.
• raised a complaint through HMRC
• reported the case to action fraud (as I was directed to by my local online Police website)
• checked my credit report is all fine (it is)
• raised a SAR with the DWP to check the details used for the UC advance request (partly to show which bits are fraudulent, and partly to check what details were stolen)

Alice_Holt

One additional action could be to request a mandatory reconsideration (MR) of the UC decision to recover the fraudulent advance.
Some details on the MR process:
 https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/problems-with-your-payment/challenging-a-universal-credit-decision-mandatory-consideration/
And the form:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/683380/if-you-disagree-with-a-decision-made-by-dwp.PDF

I'm not entirely sure that there is an appealable decision in your case (or that you have a UC claim), but launching an MR is certainly another way of getting your situation considered within the DWP by a decision maker.


This (with the help of a local advice charity), may be worth considering if no sensible action is forthcoming from the DWP:
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review/judicial-review-pre-action-letters/fraud-uc-claimed-fraudulently-3rd-party
(but the template would need adapting to your circumstances re recovery of advance rather than reinstatement of benefits).

NedS

Alice_Holt said:

One additional action could be to request a mandatory reconsideration (MR) of the UC decision to recover the fraudulent advance.
Some details on the MR process:
 https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/problems-with-your-payment/challenging-a-universal-credit-decision-mandatory-consideration/
And the form:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/683380/if-you-disagree-with-a-decision-made-by-dwp.PDF

I'm not entirely sure that there is an appealable decision in your case (or that you have a UC claim), but launching an MR is certainly another way of getting your situation considered within the DWP by a decision maker.


This (with the help of a local advice charity), may be worth considering if no sensible action is forthcoming from the DWP:
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review/judicial-review-pre-action-letters/fraud-uc-claimed-fraudulently-3rd-party
(but the template would need adapting to your circumstances re recovery of advance rather than reinstatement of benefits).

I'm not sure the OP would be able to request / action anything in respect of the fraudulent UC claim as they would need to be able to pass security first, which clearly shouldn't be possible if they know nothing about the claim. If the debt has been passed to Debt Management, that would suggest the fraudulent claim is now closed. At that point I very much doubt the OP will get anything sensible out of UC and they will need to deal with Debt Management. The OP will need to convince Debt Management that fraud has occurred, to suspend recovery of the debt and to investigate the fraud. Having their MP involved will presumably help expedite the process.

Alice_Holt

NedS said:

Alice_Holt said:

One additional action could be to request a mandatory reconsideration (MR) of the UC decision to recover the fraudulent advance.
Some details on the MR process:
 https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/problems-with-your-payment/challenging-a-universal-credit-decision-mandatory-consideration/
And the form:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/683380/if-you-disagree-with-a-decision-made-by-dwp.PDF

I'm not entirely sure that there is an appealable decision in your case (or that you have a UC claim), but launching an MR is certainly another way of getting your situation considered within the DWP by a decision maker.


This (with the help of a local advice charity), may be worth considering if no sensible action is forthcoming from the DWP:
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review/judicial-review-pre-action-letters/fraud-uc-claimed-fraudulently-3rd-party
(but the template would need adapting to your circumstances re recovery of advance rather than reinstatement of benefits).

I'm not sure the OP would be able to request / action anything in respect of the fraudulent UC claim as they would need to be able to pass security first, which clearly shouldn't be possible if they know nothing about the claim. If the debt has been passed to Debt Management, that would suggest the fraudulent claim is now closed. At that point I very much doubt the OP will get anything sensible out of UC and they will need to deal with Debt Management...

     Yes, I'm unsure.
     However, as a MR can be requested in writing by using the MR form (this wouldn't involve passing security on the phone), I do think it would be worth a try.  UC must have a record of the original claim on their system.
   UC should then reply in writing with a MR notice.

   The difficulty in dealing with Debt Management is that they are likely to refer the OP back to UC. 

  If the OP's MP office picks up his case, the OP can copy them in with the resultant DWP correspondence /  responses.     
 The more documentation the OP has from DWP the more chance of the MP's office getting someone in the DWP (Dispute Resolution ?) to address it, should Debt Management and UC only take the OP round in circles.

Robbie64

An article about UC and fraud has been published at the BBC website. It includes fraud involving Universal Credit advances

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57091551

calcotti

Robbie64 said:

An article about UC and fraud has been published at the BBC website. It includes fraud involving Universal Credit advances

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57091551

Quote "We also have robust plans in place to recover fraudulent claims and drive fraud and error down to the lowest feasible level."
What are also needed are robust procedures to distinguish between fraudsters and fraud victims.