Reporting benefit fraud - dilemma

[Leah-Lacie]

You mean if you follow them there? This thread is creepy.

 

My advice to OP is mind your own business

 

You could follow them, or, your neighbour could say "Hey, Neighbour, who I don't like, who doesn't like me, who I have had noise issues with in the past, I'm just heading to the Jobcentre, to sign on for my JSA, I've just woken up from my night shift but hey ho"

[Muldoon]

No posts for ages from Sheff Sand, Do you think he has 'Grassed' his neighbour up and got 'Duffed' up by his dodgy mates ?

[Saffy]

Even with JSA .. you can earn so much can't you?

[Leah-Lacie]

Even with JSA .. you can earn so much can't you?

 

You do hear these stories about 'Eastern Europeans' working for factories through agencies for less than minimum wage after the agency takes their cut. Never done it, haven't looked into it, so I don't know how it works, but maybe he doesn't earn much?

[NorthernStar]

I'm sure I read something on here that Sheffield's benefit fraud investigation team had been disbanded in order to help process new claims. So even if you do grass him up I doubt much will be done.

 

They are probably all working on Emma Harrisons's (A4E) £8.6m claim for abysmal service from what I was reading earlier.

 

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=936200

[truman]

...

 

People on benefits are squeezed to (and past) the limit.

 

.

 

Not as much as people on low salaries..aren't benefits going up by about 5% in April? Who's had a payrise of that amount?

[Leah-Lacie]

Not as much as people on low salaries..aren't benefits going up by about 5% in April? Who's had a payrise of that amount?

 

Are they?

 

I knew they usually have done in previous years, but I'm sure the last I heard was a benefits freeze? maybe I got it wrong

[Emmie92]

Not as much as people on low salaries..aren't benefits going up by about 5% in April? Who's had a payrise of that amount?

 

Add to that an 8% increase in housing benefit for many people claiming benefits

[truman]

Are they?

 

I knew they usually have done in previous years, but I'm sure the last I heard was a benefits freeze? maybe I got it wrong

 

I may be wrong but as I understand it the rise this year is geared to last September's? inflation rate which was around 5%...

 

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2067673/Autumn-Statement-2011-Benefits-rise-line-September-CPI-squeeze-tax-credits-puts-pressure-families.html

[m^rk]

Quite frankly who cares any more? why should i care if people are taking the DWP for a few extra grand a year, I am not bothered in the slightest any more because over the past few years we have seen Mp's getting away with ripping the taxpayers off for hundreds of thousands of pounds and them getting away with it Jacqui Smith being a prime example now if that had been you or me we would have been looking at years in prison.

 

 

Stories like this below are the reason for the attitude I have towards the Government and the authorities.

 

 

 

City banker steals pounds 1.4m.. no charge. Shop worker steals pounds 10k.. 9months' jail. CALL THIS JUSTICE? ; Anger as fraudster dodges prosecution

 

 

VAST payouts are clearly not the only bonus you get being a fatcat banker - you also apparently get away with fraud scot-free.

 

A City firm was yesterday accused of protecting a financier who stole pounds 1.4million so he would not go to jail.

 

Ravi Sinha, 47, was fined nearly pounds 3million by the City watchdog for fraud but escaped criminal prosecution after his company JC Flowers allegedly refused to help police nail him.

 

In a shocking contrast exposing the double standards protecting the rich, a shop worker who allowed friends to steal pounds 10,000 worth of goods - a fraction of what the banker took - was last year jailed for nine months.

 

City of London Police and JC Flowers yesterday blamed each other for the scandal - both accusing the other of having no appetite for prosecution.

 

The extraordinary decision not to put Sinha before the courts was last night branded a disgrace.

 

Sara George, a partner at law firm Stephenson Harwood, said: "The public will have difficulty understanding why a checkout girl who steals pounds 10,000 from her employer should go to prison but a phenomenally wealthy individual who misappropriates millions should not."

 

Labour MP Teresa Pearce added: "This is another example of the banks thinking they operate in what they believe is their own moral code which is different from the one everybody else has to live by.

 

"It's inexcusable, it's a good job he didn't steal this money during a riot; he'd be in prison for the rest of his life."

 

Sinha earned pounds 886,000 a year, with potential bonuses of pounds 1.3million, before he was busted for taking pounds 1.4million by claiming bogus advisory fees after losing a fortune on private investments.

 

He ran the European arm of US private equity firm JC Flowers from 2005 to 2009, when he was sacked after the firm discovered his scam.

 

JC Flowers called in the Financial Services Authority to investigate.

 

And the regulator banned Sinha from working in the industry for life, fining him one of the biggest penalties in its history for "very serious" dishonesty.

 

But when it passed its file to police a criminal prosecution did not follow.

 

Under the Fraud Act, if convicted in court, Sinha would face between four and seven years' prison.

 

A police source said officers were very keen to prosecute him but dropped the case after his bosses refused to co-operate fully - making the chance of a prosecution difficult. A police spokesman said: "Having considered the matter, it was decided it would not be appropriate to take it any further."

 

But a police source said: "We spoke to JC Flowers and there was no appetite from them to support an investigation.

 

"In a case of this nature without the full support of the victim company a successful conviction is highly unlikely.

 

"So with that in mind, to put a lot of resources into it and spend a lot of taxpayers' money on a case where we had little chance of a result, we decided not to take it further.

 

"Without their support it would be very difficult in court."

 

However, a source close to JC Flowers dismissed the police claims and said the firm would co-operate if a prosecution is launched.

 

He said: "If the police prosecute the company would happily assist, that's always been the case."

 

Eddie Weatherill, chairman of the Independent Banking Advisory group, was amazed Sinha was not being put before the courts.

 

He said: "For some reason we often find there's a real lack of determination to criminally prosecute bankers who have done wrong."

 

David Fleming, Unite national officer, added: "It's an utter disgrace for this wealthy banker to be walking away scot-free and avoiding any criminal investigation.

 

"Frontline workers in bank branches are constantly penalised and challenged on their conduct under the harshest of conditions.

 

"Why is it one rule for the rich bankers and another for ordinary staff?" Born in Patna, India, but raised in Walsall, West Midlands, Sinha studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford and did an MBA at Columbia University before embarking on a glittering career in the City.

 

The father-of-five, who lists his hobbies as the opera and reading, worked at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley before joining JC Flowers in 2003. During the financial crisis, Sinha led the JC Flowers team which tried to buy Northern Rock but the firm's funds were themselves caught up in the meltdown and the bid was abandoned.

 

Sinha ran into financial problems when the credit crunch hit, the FSA said. It added: "Sinha's personal investments were also under pressure.

 

"As their value declined and the income he received from them dried up, he had difficulty servicing his loans and meeting his financial obligations."

 

He had borrowed pounds 7.47million to fund personal investments but when he struggled to meet the repayments he launched his scam. He was busted by JC Flowers in October 2009. Tracey McDermott, of the FSA, said: "Sinha exploited his position of trust as CEO to fraudulently obtain significant sums for his personal benefit.

 

steward "He engaged in a dishonest, deliberate and sustained course of misconduct which lasted for several months. Such behaviour has no place in the financial services industry."

 

Sinha was bankrupted after being fired by JC Flowers, but was discharged last year.

 

His financial penalty consists of paying back the stolen money and a fine. Sinha told the FSA the fine would cause him serious financial hardship and push him back into bankruptcy.

 

But he still lives in a lavish townhouse in one of London's most expensive streets in Chelsea.

 

Sinha said: "I very much regret misleading JC Flowers over this issue and continue to offer my sincerest apologies to all those concerned.

 

"It was a foolish action which I completely regret. I will bear the consequences of my actions long into the future."

 

JC Flowers stressed it had found the problem itself and the FSA had not criticised its systems or controls.

 

A spokesman said: "Neither the company that paid the invoices nor investors in the funds advised by JC Flowers have suffered any loss as a result of Mr Sinha's actions," Last year, Ikea worker Colin Kenny, 20, was jailed for nine months for allowing friends and relatives to leave the company's Belfast store without paying for pounds 10,000-worth of goods.

 

Postal worker Stole: pounds 2,625 16months GLYNIS Kirvan, 34, of Gateshead, was jailed yesterday for stealing parcels and letters.

 

Sports centre boss Stole: pounds 42,670 14months pounds TONY Hedges, 63, jailed last August for stealing from a leisure centre in Gillingham, Kent.

 

Sinha "Club steward Stole: pounds 14,500 9months in GLYN Noble, 55, jailed last month for stealing bar takings from a cricket club in Barnsley.

 

Vicar Stole: pounds 10,000 and 10months VAUGHAN Leonard, 60, jailed last September for stealing cash from his church in Oldham.