DWP possible identity fraud

glybera27

Hello

I've just received a letter from DWP stating I owe them just over 1500. I signed into the .gov portal and it appears I owe them alleged universal credit payments. I am in a full time job and have certainly not claimed any universal credit/ child benefits etc. And a threat that if I do not pay they may take 20-40% of my salary monthly. 

Furthermore, when I rang the universal credit team, my name was not registered to my mobile number and clearly had fraudulent security questions/answers.

I rang DWP who took an age to answer and said they would pass the info onto the stolen identity team who can freeze the payments, but that this may take weeks or longer.

I am very frightened at the prospect of DWP delaying things and having a salary issue. The DWP member said they usually send at least 2 reminders before deducting, but not sure how reliable that is. 

I have also emailed my local MP to try push things along.

Is there anything else I can do? is there any other alternative to contacting the DWP stolen identity team directly? 

Thanks 
 

tomtom256

When you say .gov portal do you mean a Universal Credit account or a Government Gateway account?

Seems odd you would be able to login and see it if you have not claimed Universal Credit.

glybera27

Hi, no it was a direct letter from the Department of Work and Pensions. When I login to pay the details say I owe Universal credit. I have never applied for this however, and on this basis the team there have suggested it might be universal credit fraud. Reading articles about this some people have ended up losing 20% of the salary until it was resolved. 

poppy12345

Have you ever claimed tax credits in the past? HMRC can pass a debt onto DWP to collect any money owed. We've had some on here with debts owed from as long as 10+ years ago.

glybera27

Hi, thanks. Never claimed any tax credits. I have children, but I've never directly claimed any child benefit directly (not sure if my wife has, but I've definitely never had any money put into my account or actively claimed anything.  Never had to claim universal credit, have been employed since graduation with no gaps in employment. 

poppy12345

Child benefit is different to tax credits. If your wife claimed tax credits she couldn't have claimed without you, it would have needed to be a joint claim. Is it possible that she claimed without you knowing? I've known that happen with previous members before.

glybera27

No I've just spoken to her, never claimed it. It is also a specific date in April 2021, I've looked through emails/payslips/bank accounts, definitely nothing claimed. 

Robbie64

It definitely sounds like a fraudulent claim to UC. All you can do is wait for the UC fraud  / stolen identity team to look into it. In the meantime no recovery of the amount should happen. You've emailed your MP too, so that should help (did you inform the DWP of this? I would have). I don't know if you can contact the stolen identity team directly. You might need to wait for them to contact you.

glybera27

I can't find a direct contact for the stolen identity team. As a random note, I'd also noticed that there were two companies on companies house with my name on them (different address though). All of this has been reported to a action fraud as well. I'll try the DWP again. 

calcotti

glybera27 said:

..two companies on companies house with my name on them (different address though). 

It is quite possible that there are other people in the country with the same name as you (unless your name is very unusual).

NedS

calcotti said:

glybera27 said:

..two companies on companies house with my name on them (different address though). 

It is quite possible that there are other people in the country with the same name as you (unless your name is very unusual).

Companies house also lists the Month and Year of birth, so that should allow the OP to narrow it down and determine if there is a significant risk their identity has been used or not. If the DoB data matches, I would suggest contacting Companies House to investigate further. There was a lot of BounceBack loan fraud during Covid that required a registered business so BounceBack loans could have also been taken out in your name.