DWP worker jailed for disability benefit fraud
West Ham fan Jaine Miller loved hearing the club’s anthem, We’re Forever Blowing Bubbles, at home games.However, on Thursday the bubble burst for the senior Department for Works and Pensions (DWP)...
View ArticleMan punished for illegal sub-letting
A rogue tenant from Essex who illegally sub-let his Erith social housing flat has been ordered to pay more than £5,000 following a ruling at Bexley Magistrates Court.At a hearing on October 19, Faruq...
View ArticleJail for ex-councillor's social housing fraud
A former councillor at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Shahed Ali, has been given a custodial sentence of 22 weeks after being found guilty of housing fraud.Ali, who had represented the...
View ArticleNorfolk aims to clamp down on blue badge misuse
A county-wide crackdown on blue badge fraud is hoped to make life easier for disabled drivers.Norfolk County Council has revealed it is to place greater focus on ensuring blue badges are being used...
View ArticleEx council officer worked the system
A former Croydon Council employee who used her knowledge of the benefits system to her own advantage has been given a suspended prison sentence. (h/t Dave)An investigation by the council’s corporate...
View ArticleBenefits cheat must have known she was breaking the law
Being a benefits cheat might seem like a faceless crime to some, where there is no real victim because it's not money belonging to a person it's money belonging to the 'state', writes Jules Crouch....
View ArticleTax credit fraud leads to compensation order
A mum-of-three who cheated the benefits system out of more than £32,000 was ordered to hand it back.Joanne Crumbleholme was jailed for 24 weeks in July after admitting being knowingly concerned in...
View ArticleImportant: Disappointing recoveries of social housing
Only 54 social housing properties were recovered this year as part of efforts to stamp out tenancy fraud, a report from the Cabinet Office’s National Fraud Initiative (NFI) has revealed.The NFI report...
View ArticleBenefit fraud was just one of her scams
Dishonest Angel Jackson, 52, was labelled a “vain and self-important” crook with a “staggering contempt for the court” when she was locked up for seven years this week. (h/t Dave)The professional...
View ArticleHardened criminal couple exploited benefits system
A former NHS nurse and her husband have been jailed after stealing their neighbours’ identities to scrounge over £30,000 of benefit handouts – which they frittered away on partying.Amanda Heseltine,...
View ArticleCCTV helps Sandwell prove sub-letting
Fraudsters who were sub-letting Sandwell Council houses have been caught out - saving the authority up to £400,000.Officers in the council’s CCTV control room together with its counter fraud team have...
View ArticlePoor legal process in sub-letting case
A council tenant in Kensal Rise has been ordered to pay back almost £10,000 and has placed under a curfew for illegally subletting his flat.Harry Lambert rented out the one-bedroom property on the open...
View ArticleBedford tenancy cheat ordered to pay £35,000
Omid Hashemi, of Alamein Avenue, Bedford, has been ordered to pay back almost £35,000 after being prosecuted for lying to obtain low cost social housing. Hashemi was also sentenced to a 12 month prison...
View ArticleBenefit fraud in Northern Ireland
The cost of fraud in Northern Ireland's benefits system has reached its highest level for more than a decade. Taxpayers shelled out £45m in the last year to cover payments drawn illegally - around...
View ArticleBenefit fraud in Sussex
A woman has been ordered to undertake 80 hours of community work after falsely claiming more than £18,000 in benefits, despite having savings. Heather Clinch initially claimed housing benefit and...
View ArticleAnother benefit thief outs herself on facebook
A mum who scrounged thousands in handouts by claiming she was a single parent was unmasked as a benefits cheat after pictures of her lesbian wedding were posted on Facebook.Kerry Hope, 40, had received...
View ArticleNFI offers pro-active anti-fraud tools
Fraud is a blight that will affect every organisation at some point. Where ever there is money, there will be fraudsters. According to some estimates, the combined annual loss to central and local...
View ArticleEditorial: National benefit fraud totals
The DWP says 5,000 people were prosecuted last year for benefit fraud and 6,000 'administrative penalties' were imposed.This is without trying very hard. The aim of benefit fraud policing is to deter...
View ArticleBenefit fraud nurse is struck off
A community nurse raked in more than £15,000 from the council by not telling them she was working extra shifts.Beverley Forrest did not tell Brighton & Hove council that she was employed as both a...
View ArticleCouncil's fraud service secures conviction
A mother who lied about the whereabouts of the father of her children so she could falsely claim benefits could face prison for fraud.Ines Da Silva and Gasono Agogo, both aged 37, pleaded guilty to...
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