Five Bulgarian nationals plead guilty to falsely claiming Universal Credit over five years and storing wads of cash in ‘fraud factories’.

Grammaretto

It's interesting that only the right wing telegraph, sky news and the DM, are highlighting this story so far.

Therefore IMO it's a deliberate ploy to whip up xenophobia, and look how well it works!

Don’t be daft. It was on the TV news this morning, a disgusted neighbour told me.

How is stating the nationality, racist?

It's completely relevant. These people were defrauding in the UK.

I'm quite sure that if a crime was committed by a gang of British individuals in any country the nationality would be mentioned. And rightly so.

People are very quick to complain if they think benefit claimants are somehow getting more than they should, or using food banks when they shouldn't.

Is it somehow ok to ignore the fact that these thieves have been getting a whole lot that they shouldnt have?

Mel Stride, Secretary of State DWP isn’t making very much sense-“if you are committing benefit fraud, you are cheating the taxpayer, and we will catch you.” Government needs to do so much more than this. It’s time to stop this type of fraud at source and the government needs to act now to safeguard legitimate claimants and the taxpayer. Nothing less than a complete security review is needed.

Syracute

It doesn’t make it right !
This is why the U.K. has issues with shortfalls for the NHS etc. wealthy people don’t pay their fair share . In this case it’s more about incompetence . I remember when my husband had applied for benefits after being made redundant he had to do telephone checks to continue his payments .

If we are going with the right wing left wing analogies this is lifted directly from the left wing handbook.

keepingquiet

At least they didn't pile up their ill gotten cash in the Cayman islands for tax dodging purposes. Wake up to the real criminals please.

Do you consider these five people to be real criminals ?

I am absolutely sick to my back teeth with the constant inferences on GN that anyone who is wealthy is a tax dodger

Syracute

It doesn’t make it right !
This is why the U.K. has issues with shortfalls for the NHS etc. wealthy people don’t pay their fair share . In this case it’s more about incompetence . I remember when my husband had applied for benefits after being made redundant he had to do telephone checks to continue his payments .

People who pay the tax they are legally required to pay are paying their fair share, regardless of wealth.

biglouis

There is a well known maxim that people should minimise the amount of tax they pay using every "legal" means. Rules were created to be manipulated.

The maxim has received judicial approval.

‘Keeping quiet’. What utter tosh.

It doesn’t make it right !
This is why the U.K. has issues with shortfalls for the NHS etc. wealthy people don’t pay their fair share . In this case it’s more about incompetence . I remember when my husband had applied for benefits after being made redundant he had to do telephone checks to continue his payments .

Glorianny

So a government introduces a system which targets and mistreats honest claimants, but lets criminals get away with fraud of millions. The criminals nationality is irrelevant. What matters is that a hugely incompetent system is in use. Perhaps instead of employing staff to pursue inadequate claimants they should have people who are competent to spot the real fraudsters.

Quite Glorianny. What a system

There is a well known maxim that people should minimise the amount of tax they pay using every "legal" means. Rules were created to be manipulated.

well I have had personal experience of something like this happening recently where my dd wasn't paid ESA for a whole year and i had to escalate it to my MP
the monies were shown as going out into an account but were not going into her account (in my name)
the dwp eventually made a back payment but basically blamed me/us/something or other with no actual explanation as to what was actually happening.

keepingquiet

At least they didn't pile up their ill gotten cash in the Cayman islands for tax dodging purposes. Wake up to the real criminals please.

When will people understand the difference between tax avoidance (legal) and tax evasion illegal)? Having an account in the Cayman Islands is not a crime. I have had perfectly legitimate clients and friends with offshore accounts.

So a government introduces a system which targets and mistreats honest claimants, but lets criminals get away with fraud of millions. The criminals nationality is irrelevant. What matters is that a hugely incompetent system is in use. Perhaps instead of employing staff to pursue inadequate claimants they should have people who are competent to spot the real fraudsters.

keepingquiet

At least they didn't pile up their ill gotten cash in the Cayman islands for tax dodging purposes. Wake up to the real criminals please.

So that makes it alright does it?? 😡😡😡

I hate reading stuff like this.

Universal Credit harassing people in their 60's to find work and apply for jobs they are physically unable to do.

And ... then you read this.

keepingquiet

At least they didn't pile up their ill gotten cash in the Cayman islands for tax dodging purposes. Wake up to the real criminals please.

Ah well, let's just slap them across the wrists and tell them not to do it again as they're not real criminals.

Chestnut

I feel that the nationality of the fraudsters is very relevant. It's one thing for our own citizens to commit such crimes, but when we have criminals from all over the world exploiting us then you realise what a soft touch and how vulnerable we are.

It's not racist to want to know who these people are running benefit fraud, grooming gangs, drug gangs, slavery and all the other terrible crimes we see nowadays.

yes and yet Brits remain firmly against Identity Cards, sobeit

At least they didn't pile up their ill gotten cash in the Cayman islands for tax dodging purposes. Wake up to the real criminals please.

Urmstongran

Shocking news isn’t it? Universal Credit stolen to the tune of £54 million. Almost as shocking is how on earth they managed to dupe the DWP as I often read here on GN threads how difficult it can be to obtain these benefits.

Yes this was a highly organised crime but are we just too soft? Do we take life ‘stories’ at face value? Where were the necessary checks and balances?

I felt sick looking at the pictures of these fraudsters this morning to be honest.

What are your thoughts?

Shocking news isn’t it? Universal Credit stolen to the tune of £54 million. Almost as shocking is how on earth they managed to dupe the DWP as I often read here on GN threads how difficult it can be to obtain these benefits.

For the genuine claimant who intends to be honest and play by the rules - it often is difficult to obtain the benefits.

Fraudsters, scammers and criminals know how to get round these 'obstacles', coupled with the fact that most of these departments are understaffed.

Urmstongran

Maybe it’s time to bring back the ‘dole’ queue and recipients to appear in person every two weeks (as before) instead of monies going straight into bank accounts?

Would that mean we'd have to queue at the Post Office for our measly pensions?

I find it amazing that a thread about such a serious fraud on the public purse immediately attracts posts saying it’s racist and xenophobic and should be removed. I trust GN have the good sense to see that it’s nothing of the sort

It doesnt take much to see the woke/cancel culture brigade crawling out from under their little rocks. Some people are in the business of being offended and should look for a hobby to pass the time.

I’m still reeling here from Urmstons comments re dole queues.
Why on earth shouldn’t people claiming show face every fortnight. I can’t believe they don’t have to anymore. It should be together with some kind of rehab programme whereby people can do something to contribute towards getting money. I absolutely believe when people are doing things mental health improves so generally genuine cases can only benefit. There absolutely has to be a way.

Spinnaker

My first thought was that to be able to pull this off on such a huge scale then they had to have help from within ? I can't help thinking there have been a few blind eyes turned !

I did wonder if working from home might make this kind of fraud easier to facilitate?

Not saying that WFH is a bad things in most instances but I did have reason to contact DWP the other week by phone and the person was at home, said it was quite usual and he couldnt deal with my request until he returned to the office at some point. There might be a lack of supervision?