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Moral dilemma (benefit fraud)

52 posts & 35 voices | Started 1 year ago by jimster | Latest reply from j_me

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jimster - Member

I have a problem and I need advise from the STW collective.

Sister-in-law has got together with her mother and started claiming "Carers allowance" off Social Services, this is for taking her to the shops, out for lunch and that sort of thing - not popping over and help her shower, take her medication etc etc, proper caring IMO. Her mother isn't short of a bob-or-two, when her husband passed away he left a nice little nest-egg for her, which she transferred into her grand-daughters name to avoid paying tax.

Now my immediate thought is to shop them to the DSS, however my wife has been listed as a carer even though she had no knowledge that they were going to be claiming this and she would be named as a carer.

What should I do?

Posted 1 year ago #
Frankenstein - Member

Shop them in.

They will be investigated and outcome in pro/against.

And make sure you never break the law yourself.

Posted 1 year ago #
molgrips - Member

Tell the truth. ALWAYS the best policy. If someone else shops them and they find out you knew your wife was listed a carer and you did nothing, you'll be in a world of trouble.

Phone them and raise your concerns.

Posted 1 year ago #
philconsequence - Member

get the wife to call!!

Posted 1 year ago #
cyclistm - Member

It is going to be tough to provide all the evidence they need to even start an investigation (though it sounds like you do have a lot of info). At the least it'll clear your conscience.

Posted 1 year ago #
crashdummy - Member

If they are using your wife's name without her consent (and presumably claiming money fon her behalf) then she should do something to stop them else she may find herself being investigated.

Personally I think you should shop them - but that isn't always easy in a family situation.

Posted 1 year ago #
pitduck - Member

Posted 1 year ago #
uplink - Member

it'll end in tears, or divorce

Posted 1 year ago #
toys19 - Member

Given that wife is listed I would say dob in.

Posted 1 year ago #
Elfinsafety - Member

FFS they're family, why not just talk to them and express your concerns/opinions first? There's possibly factors that you aren't aware of. To get Carer's Allowance, you have to fulfill a whole lot of stringent criteria. Do you know every single aspect and detail of the claim?

Is this really about you being a fine, honest upstanding righteous citizen, or just jealous that someone esle is getting a bit extra?

Shop yer own family ffs....

Posted 1 year ago #
baldSpot - Member

light the touch paper and STAND WELL BACK!

Posted 1 year ago #
mastiles_fanylion - Member

Ask them to remove your wife's name then keep well out of it. It would be a whole world of trouble otherwise.

Posted 1 year ago #
U31 - Member

Snitches get stitches, so they say....

Posted 1 year ago #
wwaswas - Member

what m_f says - get your wife's name off the claim pronto. After that spend a bit of timing considering your options.

Posted 1 year ago #
Cougar - Member

You need to distance yourselves first and formost. Contact them, "I'm listed as a carer, but I'm not."

As for shopping them, easy to take the moral highground but difficult in practice when it's extended family. I'd suggest perhaps your wife has words with her sister / mother in the first instance.

Posted 1 year ago #
j_me - Member

Shop them - Scammers like this mean that genuine carers are likely to lose out.

Posted 1 year ago #
Elfinsafety - Member

Scammers like this

Where's the proof they are 'scamming'?

Society has sunk to a new low, when people would willingly shop a family member over a few quid.

Find out all the facts first, then have a quiet word if it upsets you that much.

Imagine he consequences if you shop them, there's an investigation and they are exonerated/caught. They'll never trust you again, other family members will despise you, and it could drive an irreparable wedge between your wife and her sister and mother. Is it worth it?

This forum, eh? People willingly buy stuff from abroad, to save money and dodge tax, spaff over all sorts of filth on internet, drive above the NSL whenever they can get away with it, yet bang on as though they're as pure as the driven snow. Hypocrites.

Posted 1 year ago #
joolsburger - Member

So your sister and mother in law are thieves and have dragged your wife into their thievery too.

If your happy with that keep quiet if your not get them to stop or get them stopped. Pretty straight forward really.

It is highly unlikely they will be caught out though.

Posted 1 year ago #
bravohotel9er - Member

I can't stand benefit scammers, but...

as already mentioned, this may have significant impact upon your marital harmony.

So, as a compromise I would insist that your wife's name be removed from whatever paperwork they've filled in/DWP records so that when this sordid little ship goes down your immediate family is in no way tarnished.

My aunt has been doing this too. She never helps with my aging grandparents and has been spending what she's given on alcohol whilst neglecting her own daughter.

She needs a tall glass of WTFU.

Posted 1 year ago #
Elfinsafety - Member

So your sister and mother in law are theives and have dragged your wife into their theivery too

I give up...

Posted 1 year ago #
mogrim - Member

Elfinsafety +1, speak to them first and get them to remove your wife from the carers bit.

Posted 1 year ago #
joolsburger - Member

Claiming benefits your not entitled to is theft pure and simple.

What?

I'm offering no judgements just restating the facts.

Or was that a comment on my dreadful spelling?

Posted 1 year ago #
bravohotel9er - Member

joolsburger - Member

Claiming benefits your not entitled to is theft pure and simple.

What?

I'm sorry, but STW just won't stand for that sort of attack on Labour's core voter.

Posted 1 year ago #
incognito - Member

as has already been said, get your wife out of it and leave well alone. it's really not worth the grief.

Posted 1 year ago #
Amos - Member

With Elfinsafety on this one, I'm against benefit fraud but it's family so talk to them first and get your Mrs name off the nominated carers list so you're not involved...

Posted 1 year ago #
Amos - Member

sorry reiterating mogrim

Posted 1 year ago #
Elfinsafety - Member

Claiming benefits your not entitled to is theft pure and simple.

How do you know they're not entitled to it? The OP hasn't given us sufficient info to ascertain wether or not that's the case.

Regardless of what the curtain-twitching Daily Fail reading Little Englanders on here think, benefits are actually not at all easy to claim, and there are very stringent measures in place to ensure entitlement. It is entirely possible, if you stop your knees jerking for just one moment, to consider that these people are claiming and receiving benefits they are legally and legitimately entitled to. What they then choose to do with this money is their business and no-one else's. If they are 'exploiting' the system, then that's life.

If you really want to embark on some worthy moral crusade, then consider all the wonderful luxury consumer goods you own, made by people exploited in Third World countries by greedy unscrupulous corporations.

Fell better now?

Posted 1 year ago #
sputnik - Member

I am with Elfinsafety on this one.
Insist on your wife having her name removed from the list and let her sister and mother deal with their own conscience .

George Orwell's ' Thought Police ' from 1984 springs to mind where kids shop their own parents for 'thought crimes' against Big Brother.

Posted 1 year ago #
joolsburger - Member

OK I'll go for this.

The OP said that he feels they are claiming when they shouldn't as evidenced by the phase, "my immediate thought is to shop them in".

Second they have named his wife as a carer and she didn't know this so at the very least they have signed a declaration they know to be fraudulent.

Stealing is stealing - It's wrong on a small or large scale.

Strawmen and Ad hominem arguments don't change that.

Posted 1 year ago #
jimster - Member

A couple of points missed out in the OP - the daughter and mother see it as a legitimate income to supplement her pension to help pay for fuel to take her to the shops, theatre, meals. On the form the daughter stated that she has to "pop" down to her mothers twice a week to help her wash because of her legs. The legs are dodgy, but the daughter pops in once a week for a chat. The daughter is now on about increasing the "visits" in a couple of months to increase the income.

Posted 1 year ago #
Elfinsafety - Member

Hello Sputnik! (Waves)

Joolsburger; we don't know the 'facts' about this case. Seems like the OP doesn't, either. Does strike me of sour grapes a bit.

Of course there are those exploiting the system, and a very small number getting money they're not entitled to. But this whole 'shop a cheat' culture makes me sick. What next, 'ooh I think I saw some Black people going into my neighbour's house; they must definitely be doing drugs and crime I'd better 'phone the Authorities'....

Meanwhile, some very rich people are getting even richer off the backs of the very poor, while we're too busy worrying about someone 'scamming' £32 a week or whatever.

(Decides it might be best to keep quiet about the claims for 6 non-existent kids, disability benefit whilst perfectly healthy and the dole in 3 separate names as well as long-dead relative's pension and Blue Badge. Sneaks out of £6000 a week Docklands apartment to get into Motability Scheme Aston Martin)

Posted 1 year ago #
tron - Member

Shop your nan, mum and kids if you can. It's what Jack Straw would have wanted.

Posted 1 year ago #
gonefishin - Member

I'm against benefit fraud but it's family...

Well as everyone is someone's family I guess that makes all benefit fraud okay.

As for the OP, well putting someone elses name down as a carer in order to get additional benefit that they are not entitled to (I'm assuming that this is the case here) is bang out of order. If her family are prepared to do this sort of thing then I'd be wanting to distance myself from the whole thing. They are the ones who dragged your wife into this situation and frankly that negates any loyalty that they might otherwise expect.

Posted 1 year ago #
The Southern Yeti - Member

What would Hitler do?

Troll?.. surely?

Posted 1 year ago #
khani - Member

When the Higher echelons of society (mp's and so on) stop fiddling expenses and tax and stop government contracts worth ££££'s to companies they are involved with get done for corruption then we can sort out the benefit cheats
As it is we are being led by example, start at the top not the bottom

Posted 1 year ago #