Benefit Fraud

My note : After reading this article which I copy fom dailymail.co.uk, I found this thing also happen in Australia. The story reminds me about a lady called Nur*** (I cant tell her full name), an Aussie born Kurdish. I am suspicious that she might be a cheater. She has lots of kids from different husbands. She told me she was divorcee. She is single parent and got council house and other benefits from centerlink. Anyway, I found some of her stories were made up. I couldnt ask her about her personal life. So, I was just assuming . But, I thing, there is something wrong with that lady.  .......

Here is the story from dailymail.co.uk
A taxi driver and his wife today began prison sentences for committing more that £100,000 of benefit fraud.

Richard Sullivan, 58, and his wife Julia, 38, were jailed for 15 months each for falsely claiming council tax and housing benefit worth a total of £115,194.

The couple from Elm Park, Essex, were jailed at Basildon Crown Court on Friday, a spokesman said.

Jailed: Basildon magistrates' court heard that the couple had been defrauding the state for ten years

The court heard the pair received the benefits between June 1998 and October 2008 because Mrs Sullivan signed forms claiming to be a single parent with three children.

They were caught by Havering Council after an anonymous tip-off.

Council investigators invited Mrs Sullivan to attend an interview at which she claimed her husband had moved in with her and that she had declared this in February 2008. No trace of a form was ever found.

Credit checks showed that Mr Sullivan had been at the address for about ten years.

Bank statements showed that Mrs Sullivan lent £2,300 to a friend when she was allegedly a single parent surviving on benefits.

In an application to a credit card company she gave her status as 'living together' and her partner's income as £45,000.

Further evidence that they lived together for about ten years was provided by the Public Carriage Office which confirmed that Mr Sullivan was a black cab driver and that he notified them in June 1998 of his new address at Warren Drive.

The couple were paid £115,194 in total. They received £62,245 in housing benefit, £7,819 in council tax benefits and £45,129 in income support.

A jury at Basildon Crown Court found them guilty on July 30  of benefit fraud offences.

Mrs Sullivan was found guilty of dishonestly failing to notify the Council of a change in circumstances and making dishonest statements or representations.

Mr Sullivan was found guilty of aiding and abetting a dishonest failure to notify the council of a change in circumstances.

Havering councillor Roger Ramsey said: 'People who commit these offences are complete scroungers and should be held in total contempt.

'There are families struggling in these tough financial times who genuinely need help and that's why it's so important to catch those cheating the system.

'Hardworking taxpayers should not be funding the laziness of such criminals. We will use every means at our disposal to bring benefit fraudsters to court.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1306954/Taxi-driver-lying-wife-jailed-claimed-single-parent-100k-benefits.html#ixzz0xuqyC5ek