Benefit Thieves
It’s not if we catch you, it’s when
Deliberately withholding information that affects your claim is stealing. That’s why we are targeting benefit thieves!
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) takes benefit theft very seriously. Although the vast majority of people who claim benefits are honest, those who steal benefits are picking the pockets of law-abiding taxpayers. In 2008-09 benefit thieves stole an estimated £900 million from public funds, that's why we are determined to catch them.
And they thought they wouldn’t be caught
Last year, we caught 56,493 benefit thieves – 232 every day:
- with over 677 calls a day to our hotline
- with over 476 benefit thieves reported online every day
- by cross-checking the bank accounts of benefit thieves
- with hidden cameras and mobile surveillance
- with every means at our disposal.