# ‘Abroad fraud’ warning for benefit thieves



## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

?Abroad fraud? warning for benefit thieves



> 18 April 2012
> With summer approaching, Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, is sending a warning to people who commit benefit fraud abroad.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

> Since its launch in 2008, over 750 calls to the Spanish hotline have resulted in criminal investigations by fraud investigators in the UK and over 100 people have been sanctioned or prosecuted. 134 cases are currently being investigated and £3.1 million in benefit over payments have been identified and will be reclaimed.


It doesn't seem to be very effective so far - only 100 people in four years? 

Incidentally, there is a Tax Fraud Hotline too (but they fail to mention that here). It's 0800 788 887.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Tax evasion costs the nation much more than benefit fraud although you'd never guess, reading the Daily Heil and other rags of that ilk.

Problem is that everybody knows or thinks they know a welfare cheat. Tax dodgers are harder to spot. I don't often come across the wife of Sir Philip Green when I visit friends in the UK....


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> Tax evasion costs the nation much more than benefit fraud although you'd never guess, reading the Daily Heil and other rags of that ilk.
> 
> Problem is that everybody knows or thinks they know a welfare cheat. Tax dodgers are harder to spot. I don't often come across the wife of Sir Philip Green when I visit friends in the UK....




My son in law lost his leg and some fingers in an industrial accident when he was 18 and of course was on the sick for a year following the accident, he was unaware he was being spied on by an inspector holed up in a van until the police arrived to check the van out as it had been reported by neighbourhood watch

My son in law does not qualify as disabled..


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

MaidenScotland said:


> My son in law lost his leg and some fingers in an industrial accident when he was 18 and of course was on the sick for a year following the accident, he was unaware he was being spied on by an inspector holed up in a van until the police arrived to check the van out as it had been reported by neighbourhood watch
> 
> My son in law does not qualify as disabled..


Really?
In which country?


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Really?
> In which country?




In the UK.. he cannot even get a disabled parking badge.. he did tell them that he thought it would be unlikely that his leg would grow back.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

MaidenScotland said:


> In the UK.. he cannot even get a disabled parking badge.. he did tell them that he thought it would be unlikely that his leg would grow back.


Well, if anything is ridiculous, that is!

I'm pretty sure he'd get some kind of disability here, and thinking about it, if he was resident he could apply for his disabled parking badge here because now they are recognised in Europe, aren't they?
I don't know how it works in the uk, but here you are given a degree of disability expressed as a percentage and you are eligible for certain things according to the percentage you are assessed at.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Well, if anything is ridiculous, that is!
> 
> I'm pretty sure he'd get some kind of disability here, and thinking about it, if he was resident he could apply for his disabled parking badge here because now they are recognised in Europe, aren't they?
> I don't know how it works in the uk, but here you are given a degree of disability expressed as a percentage and you are eligible for certain things according to the percentage you are assessed at.




I dont think he would bother to apply..


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

MaidenScotland said:


> I dont think he would bother to apply..


Well if he ever thinks he needs it, I think he'd be able to get it here.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

I was really just pointing out that benefit fraud although it may be a problem.. there is much more chance of you being caught as putting a man in a van to see if you are mobile is much easier, cheaper than employing auditors to go through your books and see if you are fiddling your tax returns.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

MaidenScotland said:


> I dont think he would bother to apply..


I was 'officially' disabled when I used a wheelchair when my first child was born - due to a very rare complication of the pregnancy

there were 2 possible diagnoses - one would mean never walking again & the other potentially some degree of disability - there was no way of knowing which diagnosis was the right one until at least 6 months after the birth - thankfully it was the latter & I did gradually improve - although to this day I still sometimes need sticks & in some circumstances a wheelchair

I was determined to walk no matter what & ignored medical advice & tried to get on my feet - managing around the house one way or another 

when my dd was a bit short of a year old I was up for re-assesment - at that point I could walk maybe 10 metres unaided & go up & downstairs on my butt - I could dress myself & perch on a stool to stir a pot on the hob - so I could 'prepare a meal' (one of the 'tests') 

at that stage I was considered no longer disabled & my benefits were stopped

now- I don't believe for one moment that I should have had the benefits forever - although there is still the possiblity that one day I will be 'officially' disabled again - but how they could say I was no longer disabled at that stage beggars belief - as does the fact that your son in law isn't 'officially' disabled


I reckon that it's because we are/were determined to 'get on with it'


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## Lucie123 (Dec 7, 2011)

MaidenScotland said:


> My son in law lost his leg and some fingers in an industrial accident when he was 18 and of course was on the sick for a year following the accident, he was unaware he was being spied on by an inspector holed up in a van until the police arrived to check the van out as it had been reported by neighbourhood watch
> 
> My son in law does not qualify as disabled..



ridiculous considering in my area they seem to give them to everyone over 65.your getting old your not disabled.


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> My son in law lost his leg and some fingers in an industrial accident when he was 18 and of course was on the sick for a year following the accident, he was unaware he was being spied on by an inspector holed up in a van until the police arrived to check the van out as it had been reported by neighbourhood watch
> 
> My son in law does not qualify as disabled..


Yes, I can confirm that. A chap on a bike site I use lost his leg from the knee down in a lorry accident & fails to qualify as disabled or for a badge. probablydue to the fact that he works !  Xtreme knows him better than me.


Mary, you won't find Sir Phillip Greens wife out & about as she's a non-dom , resident in Monaco. That's why all the 1,4 billion can be paid without tax. It should be a straight 25% if you are not a resident. 
Many fraudulent benefit claimants are also tax dodgers , in that they are working on the side as well ! Without thinking too hard I can come up with 7 family members ( on the wife's side .lol.) who receive benefits , work on the black, sub-let council property , etc etc.

Then again I have a nephew who could ( & should imo & that of his consultant ) claim but doesn't. He suffers from Ankylosing Spondylitis & has done for the last 21 years to the extent that his spine is now ram-rod straight from the neck to waist & from shoulder to shoulder. He can't even put his own socks on yet works & drives ( even though his consultant has warned him his spine could snap just falling over ! ) 
It is peoples attitudes to work/benefits that are the main factor.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> Tax evasion costs the nation much more than benefit fraud although you'd never guess, reading the Daily Heil and other rags of that ilk.
> 
> Problem is that everybody knows or thinks they know a welfare cheat. Tax dodgers are harder to spot. I don't often come across the wife of Sir Philip Green when I visit friends in the UK....


I'm afraid I know quite a few people who rent out their properties and don't declare the income. Can't bring myself to shop them though.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Alcalaina said:


> I'm afraid I know quite a few people who rent out their properties and don't declare the income. Can't bring myself to shop them though.



Yes, I do too....and at least one benefit cheat.

But I can't bring myself to shop them either...it's just 'not done'. Not by people like us, anyway.

Mind you, I often wonder how I would have behaved if I'd lived under Hitler or Stalin.

When I taught European History and explained that in Hitler's Germany, all civil servants including teachers had to join the NSDAP, I was always asked what I would have done in that situation - the students knew my political views at that time.

I had to be honest and said that I would probably have joined up as I would have thought about my family and so on. But I would have had a miserable, self-hating life....I hope.


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