They can't even get claiming right so you can use someone else's NI number.
'It's a nightmare': woman faces GBP1,300 demand due to universal credit fraud | Money | The Guardian
A Hampshire woman, whose identity was used by fraudsters to apply for a £1,300 universal credit advance, has been told by investigators that they are dealing with thousands of similar cases, and that “it could have happened to anyone”.
In March, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) suspended face-to-face interviews for new applicants.
Between then and October, 3.7m applications were made for the government benefit, which supports the unemployed and people on low incomes.
But while most were legitimate, some have come from fraudsters claiming in other people’s names, raising questions about the changes to security measures.
Advance payments are made to UC applicants who cannot wait the five to six weeks it takes for a claim to be processed as they have no money. They are in the form of a loan that is recouped from the recipient’s benefit payments, once approved, or their wages if they are still in work.
The first Jane Davies* knew that someone had made a claim in her name was when she received a letter from the DWP telling her that it would be taking a big chunk of her £1,334 advance from her November pay packet.
Davies, a single mother, says she has never claimed any benefits other than child benefit. She initially thought the letter was a scam.
Only after spending hours on hold and finally talking to someone did she discover that the demand was for real, and the government was set to recoup the money it had paid someone else claiming in her name.
“The letter warned that 20% of next month’s salary was to be taken and trying to get this resolved has been a nightmare,” Davies says.
“None of the people I spoke to could help, except to tell me that I owed this money. I reported the matter to Action Fraud and heard nothing. Similarly, I have tried to change my national insurance number, which I thought had been used as part of the claim, but all I get back are standard email replies – I’m going round in circles. I must have spent 30 hours on the phone trying to sort this out, mostly on hold.”
Until now, universal credit fraud has been almost exclusively carried out by people knowingly exploiting the system, or by scammers offering to apply for the benefit on the victim’s behalf and taking a cut of the payment.
Following the Guardian’s intervention, Davies was contacted by a member of the DWP’s fraud team, who, she says, told her that the department was dealing with thousands of similar cases.
“They said that this could have happened to anyone during the spring and summer as they were giving out advances with almost no checks,” she says. “I asked which bank account this payment had been made to – as it certainly hadn’t been mine – but the person wouldn’t tell me on the grounds of data protection.
“I was concerned that my national insurance number had been used by the fraudster but she told me that they wouldn’t have needed it to apply for an advance. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I suspect that I’m not the only one in this position and others are going to start getting similar letters.”
If her case is not, as suspected, an isolated one, many more households will be getting similar demands, and face having to spend hours dealing with the fallout as she has.
'It's a nightmare': woman faces GBP1,300 demand due to universal credit fraud | Money | The Guardian
A Hampshire woman, whose identity was used by fraudsters to apply for a £1,300 universal credit advance, has been told by investigators that they are dealing with thousands of similar cases, and that “it could have happened to anyone”.
In March, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) suspended face-to-face interviews for new applicants.
Between then and October, 3.7m applications were made for the government benefit, which supports the unemployed and people on low incomes.
But while most were legitimate, some have come from fraudsters claiming in other people’s names, raising questions about the changes to security measures.
Advance payments are made to UC applicants who cannot wait the five to six weeks it takes for a claim to be processed as they have no money. They are in the form of a loan that is recouped from the recipient’s benefit payments, once approved, or their wages if they are still in work.
The first Jane Davies* knew that someone had made a claim in her name was when she received a letter from the DWP telling her that it would be taking a big chunk of her £1,334 advance from her November pay packet.
Davies, a single mother, says she has never claimed any benefits other than child benefit. She initially thought the letter was a scam.
Only after spending hours on hold and finally talking to someone did she discover that the demand was for real, and the government was set to recoup the money it had paid someone else claiming in her name.
“The letter warned that 20% of next month’s salary was to be taken and trying to get this resolved has been a nightmare,” Davies says.
“None of the people I spoke to could help, except to tell me that I owed this money. I reported the matter to Action Fraud and heard nothing. Similarly, I have tried to change my national insurance number, which I thought had been used as part of the claim, but all I get back are standard email replies – I’m going round in circles. I must have spent 30 hours on the phone trying to sort this out, mostly on hold.”
Until now, universal credit fraud has been almost exclusively carried out by people knowingly exploiting the system, or by scammers offering to apply for the benefit on the victim’s behalf and taking a cut of the payment.
Following the Guardian’s intervention, Davies was contacted by a member of the DWP’s fraud team, who, she says, told her that the department was dealing with thousands of similar cases.
“They said that this could have happened to anyone during the spring and summer as they were giving out advances with almost no checks,” she says. “I asked which bank account this payment had been made to – as it certainly hadn’t been mine – but the person wouldn’t tell me on the grounds of data protection.
“I was concerned that my national insurance number had been used by the fraudster but she told me that they wouldn’t have needed it to apply for an advance. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I suspect that I’m not the only one in this position and others are going to start getting similar letters.”
If her case is not, as suspected, an isolated one, many more households will be getting similar demands, and face having to spend hours dealing with the fallout as she has.
Comment