£1.1bn recovered from UK’s international benefit cheats

A RECORD £1.1billion was recovered by the Government last year in a move to stop international benefit fraud by UK citizens.

The fraudulent claims included people continuing to receive UK benefits while living abroad, deliberately failing to declare property overseas or being in receipt of a UK disability benefit while working abroad.

Working with teams of international fraud specialists in Essex, Madrid and Alicante, as well as contacts in more than 70 countries across the world, the Department for Work and Pensions recovered the record total in overpaid benefits in relation to both UK and international fraud.

They also saw around 5,000 fraud- sters convicted and a further 5,000 benefit cheats given administrative penalties. This year, Abigail Tetteh-Lartey, from Middlesex, was found guilty of international benefit fraud after hijacking the identities of four Ghanaian citizens who had left the UK as well as falsely creating another three British identities.

The 54-year-old used the profiles to falsely claim welfare benefits and used the money to help create a property portfolio worth more than £1million. She was jailed for four and a half years.

Esther McVey, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “Our specialist teams work continually to establish new intelligence sources across the globe and catch the fraudsters who divert taxpayers’ money from people in need.”