Derby reveals housing benefit shambles
More social housing shambles, this time from Derby.Shock figures show that errors and fraud have led to housing benefit worth more than £8 million being wrongly paid to people in Derby since April...
View ArticleCheshire East detects £1.3m benefit fraud
More than £1m of council taxpayers’ money has been clawed back from benefit cheats this year after Cheshire East hauled 56 people before the courts. (h/t Dave)The landmark figures were revealed as the...
View ArticleTenant gets suspended sentence for illegal sublet
A tenant who illegally advertised his council house on Gumtree has received a suspended sentence.Steven Gregory, of Booth Road, Colindale, put the house in Bell Lane, Hendon, up for rent on the...
View ArticlePensioner jailed for £77k benefits fraud
Richard Denby, from Henley-on-Thames, was branded a ‘consistent fraudster’ and given a 40 week prison sentence after being convicted of five counts of making false statements with a view to obtaining...
View ArticleJail for £138k benefit thief
A Wirral mum fraudulently raked in more than £138,000 from the UK taxpayer – while living in Tunisia with her two youngest children. (h/t Dave)Susan Elaine Flanagan claimed tens of thousands of pounds...
View ArticleBenefits worker became benefits thief
A council benefits assessor created several fake identities to fraudulently claim £32,000 in housing benefits he was not entitled to. Anthony McHale, 55, was branded a 'dishonest, fraudulent crook' by...
View ArticleHousing benefit - fraud and error is rising
Fraud and false claims for the state benefit that is most often abused has amounted to an astonishing £12.6 billion since the turn of the Millennium, MPs reported yesterday.The amount sucked out of...
View ArticleBenefit cheats swindled £4.2m in N Essex in past five years
Benefits cheats in north Essex have swindled more than £4.2million in the past five years. (h/t Dave)The East Anglian Daily Times Colchester Borough and Tendring and Braintree district councils how...
View ArticleTiny punishment for crooked pensioner
A pensioner fraudulently claimed more than £15,000 in council and housing tax benefits after failing to disclose that he had inherited £63,000 from his mother, a court has heard.Uttlesford District...
View ArticleSocial housing fraud in Brighton & Hove
Brighton and Hove City Council has been swindled out of more than £1.1 million.The council has lost £1,118,442 in 245 cases of fraud in the 2013/14 financial year, a report published by the Audit...
View ArticleLight sentence for benefit thief, 75
A pensioner has been given a 12-month community order for receiving more than £55,000 through benefit fraud.Veronica Knibbs, from Blackbird Leys, Oxford, pleaded guilty in December in Oxford...
View ArticleBenefit claimant with false identity gets 18 months in jail
A man with two identities who falsely claimed more than £61,000 in Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Wandsworth has been...
View ArticleCaroline Foxley jailed
We noted Caroline Foxley here, after she was convicted in October 2014 of four counts of benefit fraud but while awaiting sentence claimed a further £30,000 in benefits.Gloucester Crown Court heard...
View ArticleBenefits clerk fiddled tax credits
A benefits clerk employed to check for bogus claims cheated £50,000 in state handouts after running up debts with payday lenders Wonga. (h/t A Reader)Caroline Bryon, from Hyde, worked for the...
View ArticleAnother state worker fiddles her tax credits
Following on from yesterday's report about a government employee fiddling her tax credits, here is another one.This civil servant fraudulently claimed more than £86,000 in benefits by lying about her...
View ArticleJudge punishes housing benefit fraud
A benefit fraudster who claimed thousands she was not entitled to has been order to repay all her ill-gotten gains.Elisabete Bacanhim, 38, formerly of Chalford Close, West Molesey, pleaded guilty to...
View ArticleGlamour model fiddled £44k in benefits
A glamour model fraudulently claimed more than £40,000 in benefits including disability allowance - while starring in a Playboy film, a court heard.Julia Martinez, 43, said she was too sick to work,...
View ArticleBenefit cheat facing losing his home
A benefit cheat fiddled more than £11,200 in wrongful payments by keeping quiet that he had received a £23,000 pension lump sum, a court heard.Graham Cook, 65, from Scunthorpe, admitted dishonestly...
View ArticleCompensation order against Tadcaster benefits thief
Thanks to Dave, we can catch up on the case of Paul Burnett, who was jailed in September for benefit fraud.A benefits fraudster who “hijacked” the identities of two dead friends has been ordered to...
View Article£53k benefit fraud brings 100 hours of unpaid work
A Tavistock grandmother who conned councils out of more than £50,000 in benefits has been given a suspended prison sentence.Elizabeth Hart, aged 66, repeatedly lied on claim forms to hide her ownership...
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