Face of Nation : Claims include one from “a 19-year-old with six blind children” and another saying “Harry Kane” was their landlord.
The government says it is determined to bring fraudsters to justice.
The criminals exploit a loophole in the online system to fraudulently apply for universal credit and claim advance loans on behalf of people who often have no idea they are being signed up for the benefit.
A benefits official told the BBC that in one job centre more than a third of claims are currently suspected of being bogus, while £100,000 of fraudulent activity each month was recorded at another branch.
Another official told the BBC that the Department for Work and Pensions estimates 10% of the 100,000 or more advances paid monthly are potentially bogus.
This suggests that fraud rates on universal credit are about four times higher than on most other benefits.
Ironically, one of the original goals of universal credit was to save about a billion pounds in fraud and error.
Jade Thomas, 31, from Manchester, now owes more than £1,500 of a loan arranged for her by a fraudster, but she had to pay him £1,000 for setting it up – so received only £525 of it.
“All he needed was my provisional licence and my bank card and a photo which he had to take there and then,” she recalls.
“He had a badge from the Job Centre Plus… he was dressed smartly.”
Within two or three hours the money, which she had been led to believe was a type of grant, was in her account.
She only realised it was a fraud, and that she would have to pay back the full amount, when her tax credits stopped and an official explained that she had been put on to universal credit.
The unexpected debt has pushed her into arrears with both her rent and council tax.
Universal credit combines six “legacy benefits” into one monthly means-tested payment. The legacy benefits are working tax credits, child tax credit, jobseeker’s allowance, income support, employment support allowance and housing benefit.A single universal credit payment is paid directly into the claimant’s bank account each month. More than 1.5m people across Great Britain currently receive benefits through universal credit.
