The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has released a series of badly photoshopped images that show what fraudsters do to "prove" that they live in the UK. The public service department revealed that fraudsters were caught sending fake photos while living abroad, so that they can claim benefits in the UK.
As reported by the Daily Record, the DWP said that they were flooded with thousands of counterfeit documents during the coronavirus pandemic, due to a surge in Universal Credit claims. They are now working their way through the fraudulent claims.
One picture shows a man crudely photoshopped into a scene outside a front door after being asked to send proof he lived in the UK. There is no evidence that the people in the pictures shown in the article are committing any crime or have any link to the attempted fraud. The DWP's counter fraud regional office in Newcastle has been working through the claims, where digital forensic analysts and investigators combat bogus claims which reached £8.6billion last year.
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Analysts also noticed the same lime green door appeared in photos sent in by a number of claimants trying to prove they lived in the UK. A DWP spokesperson said: "When the pandemic hit, we saw a surge in Universal Credit claims, which demanded an extraordinary response to help all those in urgent need. Regrettably, unscrupulous fraudsters took advantage, but we are rooting them out and have already reviewed 900,000 claims.
"We made savings from correction and prevention of fraud and error of £2billion last year alone. But we’re going much further, through our robust fraud plan to prevent £2billion of loss over the next three years, and over £4billion over the next five years."
The department have since launched a "robust plan" to drive down fraud and error from the benefits system. This new plan includes introducing a new civil penalty for cases where fraud can be proved.
It is believed the plan will stop and estimated loss of £2billion over the next three years and £4billion over the next five years. An additional £613million will be invested in combating fraud and error over the next three years, with more than two million Universal Credit claims also being reviewed and 2,000 trained specialists hired to review the claims.
A further £280million will be invested to increase levels of protection against fraud and error over the next two years, which will allow staff to review the majority of Universal Credit claims.
DWP officials say there is no suggestion the people in the images have committed fraud, or are linked to the location shown but the pictures are examples of faked images sent to the department.
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