The UK’s worst ever benefit scammers cheated the taxpayer out of more than £54million beforesplurging it on luxury cars, fancy clothes, and posh watches.
A gang of five Bulgarian criminals made more than 6,000 bogus claims for public money using an elaborate scheme in north London.
Gyunesh Ali, Patritsia Paneva, Stoyan Stoyanov, Tsvetva Todorova, and Galina Nikolov managed to con their way into £53,901,959.82 of Universal Credit.
Over a period of four and a half years, the gang ran a cunning scheme via three corner shops in Wood Green. They also had a slew of fake identities, which they used to make false benefit claims.
Each benefit claim was given a different mobile number and came with a raft of accompanying dodgy documents including tenancy agreements, forged payslips, and fake letters from GPs, landlords, and employees.
If a claim was knocked back, they would simply have another go until it was accepted. On some occasions, claims would be made by using real people’s details. Those genuine individuals would fork out to the gang to use their identities. The gang would then make the claims on their behalf.
The Universal Credit landed in a range of more than a hundred bank accounts before being withdrawn by the crooks at the bank.
There is currently an operation underway to recover the lost money, with some thought to have been put into Bulgarian property.
The UK’s largest ever benefit fraud investigation was launched when officers noticed a pattern in the names and addresses of the claimants.
Authorities seized more than 900 devices and discovered £750,000 in cash hidden in a suitcase under a bed following raids on properties on May 5, 2021.
Those involved had their assets frozen following their arrests. Police seized cars including an Audi, high-end clothes, jewellery and watches.
Officers also found wads of bank notes located around their homes.
Ali was released under investigation, at which point he took off and escaped the country to Bulgaria. However, he was extradited back to the UK on February 25, 2023 to appear in court.
One of the locations used for the mass fraud was a Bulgarian food shop called Antonia Food in Wood Green, north London.
Nikolova, 38, Stoyanov, 27, Todorova, 52, Ali, 33, and Paneva, 26, pleaded guilty to fraud as well as money laundering related offences at Wood Green crown court.
They are to be sentenced in May and will face record jail time.
Ben Reid, specialist prosecutor at the Serious Economic, Organised Crime and International Directorate at the Crown Prosecution Service told The Sun: “This was an industrial-scale fraud committed by an organised criminal group. They carried out a sustained attack on a system designed to support the most vulnerable people in our society and treated it like a cash machine to fund their own lavish lifestyles.
“If you were walking down the road in Wood Green you would see a corner shop and it would appear to be legitimate. You would walk in through the front door and there would be shelves of food and drink.
“But as you walked through to the back you would find further rooms where there were desks and computers. It was from those rooms that the gang was submitting thousands of false claims for Universal Credit to the Department of Work and Pensions supported by false documents such as leases, employment contracts, that kind of thing.”
Mel Stride MP, Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions, said: “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.”
Minister responsible for tackling benefit fraud, Paul Maynard MP, added: “Our investigators are working tirelessly to catch benefit cheats and this case builds upon our plan to save £1.3 billion on fraud and error.
“At the same time, our Fraud Plan will help us implement a long-term strategy to minimise fraud and error and ensure value and fairness for the taxpayer.”
