DWP could monitor social media activity and bank accounts in benefit fraud crackdown
Social media activity and bank accounts could end up being monitored as the government reaffirmed its commitment to reducing benefit fraud
“Cutting fraud delivers on the Prime Minister’s priorities, reducing our national debt and helping to curb inflation by protecting the hard-earned money of taxpayers. The DWP Minister said: “These investigations vary significantly in their nature and complexity and no set time can be attributed to an individual investigation. Our investigators, working with the Crown Prosecution Service where appropriate, seek to expedite all investigations as quickly as possible to ensure the criminal burden of proof is met.”
The new powers would also include requirements for organisations, such as banks, to share data securely on an increased scale to check levels of savings and whether claimants are living abroad. There are also plans to increase DWP officers’ powers to conduct searches, seize evidence, and make arrests.FraudThe claimant has provided inaccurate or incomplete information, or failed to report a change in their circumstances, but there is no evidence of fraudulent intent on the claimant’s part.
Many investigators wear plain clothes and can show up at your home or work at any time, which could be frightening. Fraud investigators have a wide range of powers which enable them to gather evidence in a number of ways, including surveillance, interviews, and document tracing. Under the new proposals, these powers will widen to include executing warrants, search and seizure of evidence and even making arrests.
What happens during a DWP investigation? If the DWP is going to start a formal investigation against you, they will notify you either in writing, by telephone, or email - this is typically done through the post. DWP investigators are allowed to gather many types of evidence against a potentially fraudulent claimant.
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