Bus stop photo and UC

HillStreetBlues

peteuk said:

KxMx said:

It sounds like a compliance check. 
https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit-reviews

One of the more bizarre requests I've seen, but someone on another forum had quite the list of stuff they wanted.

ID and four months of bank statements are the most common. 

Compliance of what?  If he claims to live in village A, which has buses from town A to Town B and back. Taking a photo of a nondescript bus stop in village A proves….

We want to village A and took a photograph. It’s not a digital bus stop, it has no timetable on it.  He hasnt yet claimed bus fair….

Proves nothing really, other than h can take a picture of a bus stop.   

It's the DWP, since when has sense come into it.

Grumpy_chap

Does it have to be a selfie showing him at the bus stop?
That would make sense if, for any reason, there was doubt about him being in the area.

If the request is genuine, it is probably easier to just do the photo and send it in.

mark_cycling00

The fact that everyone is confused means that it's probably quite a good security check.

What are the chances that a fraudster in Indonesia (or anywhere else) would send a photo of your local bus stop as proof that their Email was authentic?

Similarly if a fraudster pretended to be you and the UC people asked what photo you'd provided to them, what are the chances that they'd say a local bus stop on churchdown meadow lane?

peteuk

mark_cycling00 said:

The fact that everyone is confused means that it's probably quite a good security check.

What are the chances that a fraudster in Indonesia (or anywhere else) would send a photo of your local bus stop as proof that their Email was authentic?

Similarly if a fraudster pretended to be you and the UC people asked what photo you'd provided to them, what are the chances that they'd say a local bus stop on churchdown meadow lane?

They’ve seen him every week, bar Xmas, since starting the claim, in October.  Wasn’t even a selfie (although he probably did it wrong)

KxMx

peteuk said:

mark_cycling00 said:

The fact that everyone is confused means that it's probably quite a good security check.

What are the chances that a fraudster in Indonesia (or anywhere else) would send a photo of your local bus stop as proof that their Email was authentic?

Similarly if a fraudster pretended to be you and the UC people asked what photo you'd provided to them, what are the chances that they'd say a local bus stop on churchdown meadow lane?

They’ve seen him every week, bar Xmas, since starting the claim, in October.  Wasn’t even a selfie (although he probably did it wrong)

The official government line as to the reasoning behind compliance checks

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nottinghampost.com/news/uk-world-news/dwp-confirms-investigate-2-million-8487358.amp

Basically making sure payments are correct. 

The checks are carried out by a specialist department, not local Job Centre staff.
No one knows their methodology, I went through a check myself and was asked about several payments out and none about payments in after selling personal items on Ebay.
I also had to explain how PayPal worked after she queried the 1 transaction across the statement period, which was 6 months for me (quarterly statements) which was £20 odd. 

Muttleythefrog

Yes it sounds very amateurish.... frankly their lack of knowledge... and a silly request like bus stop photo (and I have different slant to a poster above... getting photos of bus stops remotely is going to be typically simple and fast... even new ones.. proves nothing at all.. but it sounds like just the sort of thing an 18 year old might ask for after watching a documentary on romance scams)... suggests it might be more Carry On than Correction.

Muttleythefrog

mark_cycling00 said:

Similarly if a fraudster pretended to be you and the UC people asked what photo you'd provided to them, what are the chances that they'd say a local bus stop on churchdown meadow lane?

True... but is there any suggestion they're using the exercise to set up security questions? Seems very unlikely. Far better ways anyway... 'what was the last payment we sent to you and what date.. to account ending with what numbers'...even calling on the registered telephone number should be identifying... a criminal would need to do a deal with the devil to spoof correctly. As I say getting photographs of bus stops is easy... get on Facebook and people will get you pictures of pretty much anything within an hour if you set the task... and that assumes you can't find or make one from the vast imagery and videos online.  I even had people offer to send their drones up when I was property hunting from t'other end of country. The amount of information out there is staggering... with people happy to add.

Alice_Holt

My theory is that the work coach who requested the photo could a member of the bus stop appreciation society. 
Per: https://dullkev.com/roundabouts-of-britain/

And is planning a 2025 Calendar, along the lines of: 
https://www.calendarclub.co.uk/heritage-buses-of-britain-mini-calendar-2024-314364/
as their way of escape from DWP employment.

HillStreetBlues

Alice_Holt said:

My theory is that the work coach who requested the photo could a member of the bus stop appreciation society. 
Per: https://dullkev.com/roundabouts-of-britain/

And is planning a 2025 Calendar, along the lines of: 
https://www.calendarclub.co.uk/heritage-buses-of-britain-mini-calendar-2024-314364/
as their way of escape from DWP employment.

Maybe they didn't fully understand the meaning of their title.

Alice_Holt

HillStreetBlues said:

Alice_Holt said:

My theory is that the work coach who requested the photo could a member of the bus stop appreciation society. 
Per: https://dullkev.com/roundabouts-of-britain/

And is planning a 2025 Calendar, along the lines of: 
https://www.calendarclub.co.uk/heritage-buses-of-britain-mini-calendar-2024-314364/
as their way of escape from DWP employment.

Maybe they didn't fully understand the meaning of their title.

   Or perhaps they meant to ask for a photo of a coach stop