even if it was a member of your family?

BB

gotta confront them first if it’s family, but it’s not right to normal decent folk.

also bianchi did you want any of the two mobiles or are you all sorted??

yes. and i’d kick them in the cock too.

Yep. And I’d tell them first before I did it. Wouldn’t be a nice thing to do, so I’d give them a chance, but I’d still do it.

Depends, though, really. If they were really struggling, and fiddling an extra £20 a week or so, then maybe just turn a blind eye. But if they were taking the piss, and being able to afford expensive luxuries, then they deserve to be caught.

Perhaps best to have a word first, especially if it’s a member of your own family. Find out why they are doing it. There might be some messed up reason for it, you don’t know. Best to find out the whole story, I’d reckon.

I fear, in these increasingly tough times, that more and more deserving people will be stigmatised as ‘scroungers’, by people angry at their own downturn.

Real cheats who profit from such scams, should be brought to book, as it’s scum like that, that take it away from those that genuinely need it.

You can go to prison for defrauding the benefit system. So you should tell them that straight away. You will be doing them a favour.

Mmm. I wonder if people would take the same dim view of tax evsion, paying tradesmen cash in hand, avoinding capital gains etc, etc

I bet you wouldn’t, but when it comes to benefits, it really seems to wind people up

i’ll kick you in the cock as well Daniel!

I don’t avoid tax, I just evade tax.

Oh no hang on, its the other way round is’nt it 😳

Well said, djglover. A lot of people act in a very sanctimonious way, when the issue of benefit ‘scrounging’ is raised but I wonder how many of them do the odd bit of slightly dubious dealing, to save a few quid? Like, not declaring their bargain bike bits, that they’ve had shipped in from abroad? 😉

With new controls, it’s now actually very difficult to scam benefits. And the government is set to limit further, those that are eligible.

This ‘grass a member of your own family’ kind of mentality worries me more…

If a member of my family was on benefits I’d bury them under the patio.

5thelefant – you’re really on the dole aren’t you.

dglover/rudeboy.
i neither ‘minimize my tax exposure’ or defraud the benefits agency, however here’s a thought..

maybe people differentiate between the two because in one case some one is trying to keep hold of the money they have gone out and WORKED for, whereas in the other the person has done NOTHING for the money.

Fiddling your tax is seen as a Robin Hood kind of theft, at least your working AND stealing, whereas a benefit fraud well your just LAZY and a thief.

Just a thought

What if you work cash-in-hand, AND claim benefits?

Same as working and fiddling your tax? 😉

Here’s a thought: How many companies/individuals don’t properly fully declare all their earnings, and therefore don’t pay the tax they are legally obliged to? I dare say, there are many, many people/firms that do this. And I bet that the money ‘lost’ to the Treasury is far, far more than the cost of illegally-claimed benefits.

Yet someone defrauding the system in this way, can still appear conscientious, law-abiding and honest, even though they are not.

Let’s face it, almost everyone is just out for the best deal they can get. If you can get away with not declaring a few quid, and saving on that, then ‘where’s the harm’? And most people, if they could get away with it, probably would.

The truth is, there are far more people fiddling tax, than those who get away with illegally claiming benefits.

Is tax ‘evasion’/’avoidance’ morally any better than benefit fraud? Not really- it’s all theft. It’s just that tax dodging is easier to cover up.

shop ’em

Done it.

Hmm… i dont agree with the long term unemployed doing fiddle work.

My thoughts would be that you speak to the family member, have they just been made redundant? do they have a mortgage to pay? does the spouse work (if there is one?)

lots of factors for you to consider, however, the law is the law, and ignoring it is a surefire way of getting into trouble.

if you know they are working & on benefit, there may well be more people who know.

I used to know of one bloke who has never done a proper days graft in his life, claimed all he could – he met a woman who suffered with clinical depression and she didnt work either, so he then claimed as a carer for this woman. this started 10 or so years ago, and the last time I saw him, life was still the same. Is that situation the same as theft? they do nothing for their money! (a good kick up the rear and sending them both to work wouldnt go amiss)

jt

Don`t agree with anyone on the fiddle especially at taxpayers expense but tbh what the benefits get screwed for is a drop in the ocean as to what the banks etc in the past year have fleeced us all for.
Who is going to stick them in ?

No qualms if its a member of the family I dislike, but otherwise I would have a word, its us tax payers that are supporting these cheats who inavriably can afford double the luxuries that any of us paying for their lifestyle can afford.

Some of you lot are on the wrong website.
Here’s where you want to be.

You’ve got to love (not) the Daily Mail.

I rarely read it, but please… some prize comedy pieces from todays edition:-

Shipman’s victim’s son attacks Gavin and Stacey over serial killers joke

The joke’s on Kate Garraway as she falls victim to Vic Reeves’ tasteless sex simulation sketch

The people who really suffer from benefit fraud are those who genuinely need to claim benefits. Perhaps they’ve just been made redundant, or have a genuine long term illness. Whatever, they’re now finding it harder and harder to claim benefits because the government is rightly cracking down on all claimants in order to stop fraud.

And yes, I do know people in both situations. One friend was made redundant 3 months ago when his company went bust – he hasn’t received any support yet. Another has terminal cancer. She is dying slowly and has to fight for any support for herself or her family. Both of them get less than they would have 5 years ago, because they are honest with the system.

No.

There is no way that I would shop a member of my own family, or a friend, for claiming benefits which they weren’t entitled to – whether or not I agreed with what they were doing.

Neither would I shop a member of my family (or a friend) for not having road tax or pinching something from their work place.

I would however, report a member of my family if I thought that they were responsible for crimes such as GBH or sexual assault.

.

It’s a very sad reflection on the moral bankruptcy of our society that some people are prepared to shop their own mothers to the authorities.

Very sad indeed.