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ID Theft again
A Cl of mine was the victim of ID theft last year. The matter was resolved after much hassle with HMRC.
The same cl has recently had a notice that her HB was suspended as she had apparently moved from Cornwall to the Midlands and claimed HB there (I would not have thought this was possible, it would have to be UC). Luckily she has been able to supply HMRC with enough details to satisfy them that she has not moved, there is no record of a UC claim in her name and Housing Ben are satisfied that its a fraud and have reinstated her HB.
I was wondering if anyone else had seen a case like this - are the organised criminals who try to perpetrate these frauds simply going to wait until the fuss dies down and have another go?
Interesting. I picked up a duty case a few months back where HB had been suspended because the claimant had allegedly moved to Liverpool. No connection with Liverpool at all. HB willing to reinstate but only when the claimant contacts DWP to correct the address back to the address originally claimed for.
Yes, fraudsters will typically target the same people multiple times, and in a fit of entrepreneurship will also frequently sell their victims’ details to other fraudsters.
Is anyone getting cases of DWP either taking UC deductions or threatening/taking deductions from wages whilst not listening to the claimant’s protests?
We contacted DWP in March to say the claimant, pursued for £2000 UC debt, had never even claimed UC. No reply, just more threatening letters to the claimant.
DWP is supposed to have put measures in place for dealing with ID theft cases- but nothing much seems to have changed since these reports cropped up:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/nov/14/universal-credit-fraud-scam
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/dec/10/universal-credit-fraud-dwp-debt
Got a client who was scammed out of £800 UC. sounds like the classic ‘we can give you a loan’ then scammer sets up a UC account and nicks the advance payment.
Bank refusing to reimburse her so now she had to borrow it all off family members to repay UC.
This was a couple of months ago, so clearly still happening sadly
[ Edited: 11 Jun 2021 at 03:44 pm by JAS1 ]