Universal credit score: Bulgarian fraud gang jailed after stealing £54m in benefits scam

For free actual time breaking information alerts despatched straight to your inbox signal as much as our breaking information emails

Sign as much as our free breaking information emails

A Bulgarian gang stole £54m of taxpayers’ cash over 5 years by submitting 1000’s of false claims in the most important benefits scam seen in England and Wales.

Galina Nikolova, 38, Stoyan Stoyanov, 27, Tsvetka Todorova, 52, Gyunesh Ali, 33, and Patritsia Paneva, 26, used the benefits system like a “cash machine” to fund their lavish life.

Footage taken from inside a flat reveals one of many fraudsters showering the ground with dozens of £20 notes – with the cash used to purchase designer garments, holidays, designer watches and even a high-end Audi sports activities automobile.

Up to £750,000 in financial institution notes had been discovered stuffed in suitcases at one among their houses alongside cast and false paperwork.

They made round 6,000 false benefits claims utilizing cast GP letters and faux payslips between 2016 and 2021 by three “benefits factories”, which claimed to help individuals with acquiring a nationwide insurance coverage quantity and benefits to which they’re entitled.

However, it was discovered that after candidates made their claims for benefits by these three sources, they left them in the arms of the organised crime group.

The court docket heard how the cash gained from these fraudulent claims was then laundered. It was moved between quite a lot of accounts by quite a few transfers and withdrawn in money till the criminals might use it legitimately.

Specialist CPS prosecutor Ben Reid mentioned: “This case is the largest benefit fraud prosecution ever brought to the courts in England and Wales.

“For a number of years, these defendants conspired to commit industrial-scale fraud against the Universal Credit system, costing the taxpayer more than £50million.

“This was a sustained attack on a system that is supposed to protect the most vulnerable in our society. But instead this gang used it as a cash machine to fund their lavish lifestyles.”

All 5 have pleaded responsible to fraud and cash laundering-related offences, and might be sentenced on at Wood Green Crown Court 28 May 2024.

Mel Stride MP, Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions, mentioned: “I am immensely proud of DWP investigators’ work, in collaboration with the Crown Prosecution Service, to take down this organised crime group.

“Today’s convictions underline our commitment to protecting taxpayers’ money and it is only right and fair that we bring to justice those stealing from the public purse.

“My message is simple – if you are committing benefit fraud, you are cheating the taxpayer, and we will catch you.”