A woman has been jailed for eight months after she was found guilty of 12 counts of housing benefit and council tax fraud worth more than £100,000.
Samina Ahmed, 53, from Mitcham, pleaded guilty to the largest fraud ever uncovered by Merton Council - £104,663 claimed over a period of almost 15 years.
Officers were first alerted to the case when Mrs Ahmed’s address was mentioned in a separate fraud investigation involving other family members.
Beginning in 1997, the fraud involved a contrived tenancy including the creation of counterfeit documents showing a false landlord, false documents and a false name – Mrs Choudry.
This enabled Mrs Ahmed to claim benefits by stating that she had to pay rent to a private landlord.
When the claim under the Choudry name was examined, it revealed inconsistencies that prompted a full investigation which found that Mrs Ahmed was in fact living in her husband’s house and wasn’t eligible for the £160 per week benefits she was fraudulently claiming.
Hang on, the property wasn't even registered to this "Mrs Choudry"?
Merton Council is looking to recover the money through the Ahmed family property.
- This claim hit six figures over a period of 15 years. Essentially the fraud came to light through a fluke.
This does raise questions about Merton Council's review procedures. Do they not check regularly when a claim has been continuing for a long time, or hits a certain large figure?
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