Undercover Benefits Cheats

[Ric.ror]

This was on Wednesday but why did they come clean before informing the authorities?
Won't that just give them chance to cover their tracks

[fiction-factory]

We don't know whether they did. I'd have thought a good lawyer would have a very good chance of getting them off if any trial was to take place after the show but if there had been a verdict I think C5 would have said. So it wa sprobably just done for TV

[silliemillie]

Really puzzled as to why these scammers would be telling a complete stranger all their dodgy dealings. Why would they do that?

Maybe it's just their nature to brag or its all set up for TV?

[hc4361]

That's how the majority of benefits cheats get caught - they can't help bragging to neighbours and drinking pals how clever they are fiddling the system, and somebody grasses them up.

[silliemillie]

You are right there HC, they can't help bragging about how clever they are when in reality they are just plain stupid.

[trt]

## You are right there HC, they can't help bragging about how clever they are when in reality they are just plain stupid. ##

Yep, just like the first bloke bragging how much he earns, and his benefits etc, then he said to the investigator, '' the secret is, never tell people what you are doing, keep it to yourself!!!!:-)

[Hypognosis]

@Ric.ror

Surely it was the authorities who told the film crew which people to film? How else could they find these people, out of the blue?

[Hypognosis]

@hc4361

That's worrying. Does it mean we're not catching the smart ones?


Also, this whole concept of "grassing" bothers me. It's like the crooks have pulled off an act of mass behavioural conditioning on the rest of the population, starting from when they're kids at school. (Everyone's naughty, therefore nobody dares to 'grass').

Or is it that everybody crooked, these days?

[waterboatman]

Could well be a made for TV docudrama.

[fiction-factory]

I walked into town yesterday and walked past a few shops very similar to the one selling the antibiotics and cheap cigarettes. I noticed that in each one there was a man standing in the doorway looking as if he was vetting entrants to the shop - so I wonder if this illegal trading is not uncommon

[whirlyhurly]

Well, when I was desperate for some antibiotics, I wish I'd have known about shops like these.

[hc4361]

whirlyhurly, be very glad you didn't. If the shopkeeper has no idea what the tablets are, nor will you have. Fake prescription drugs can be very dangerous.

[hc4361]

Hypognosis, surely you don't believe the production team had been tipped off by the authorities?

[fiction-factory]

I was amazed that the beefit cheats and the shopkeeper didn't get suspicious about the number of questions the investgators were asking and the number of times he visisted the house of the man selling the steroids

[hc4361]

It was filmed over weeks, FF, so they weren't bombarding them with questions, just getting them in to conversations.

[Hypognosis]

@hc4361

I didn't watch the programme, I was just guessing how they might have been so instantly successful at tracking down claimants, let alone fraudulent ones, just from appearances.


Shops selling antibiotics and cigarettes? What's that all about? (I thought those posts had strayed in from another thread, lol)

[TWR]

It just shows has stupid the system is, the bloke selling from the boot of his car & claiming for an Injured Finger, no wonder they are all trying to get to the Land Of FREE, The system is totally out of control.

[Hypognosis]

How much does a year's imprisonment cost the rest of us, compared to a year's benefits? Isn't it around the £20,000 mark?

And, as naillit has pointed out, numerous times, once they have a criminal record, they become unemployable. (The finer points of civil versus criminal offences are beyond me, I'm just talking about how potential employers would react to an applicant's admission that they've been prosecuted for something which labels them as fundamentally dishonest and most small businesses woukd be driven into bankruptcy by even low levels of petty theft or other fiddles).

I'm not saying we should sit back and let it happen, I'm just trying to think up better alternatives. Unfortunately, forced work - intended to pay back the amount claimed fraudulently - requires food and accommodation for the duration, so we would still have to pay out so as not to have people starving to death, or dying in the street, while they do so. All of which is, also unfortunately, too resemblant of the workhouse system for most people's comfort.

[hc4361]

TWR, I didn't believe that story about the sore finger, either.

[TWR]

Why don't they Issue these people with non sellable Food Tokens? or does it take too much thought?

[ladyalex]

I think they would find a way of turning food tokens (or food) into money.