uc scam

[witsend1878]

My lads been scammed,after all the advice i gave him over the years and he's fallen for a scam basically he was told it was buying shares and stock markets this lad sets an account up does what he needs to do and then he will get a payment and he has to give the lad half of it.This was all done when they were pissed up my lad and 2 mates done it so all 3 getting done for it.My lads worked since he left school never been in a job centre in his life.

So this lad as applied for universal credit advance payment,the money went into my lads account he give this lad half,few weeks later the lad messages him do you want to do it again my lad said yes so again this lad done a uc scam again.Once the money was paid my lad sent him half to his bank account.Months later my lad gets a letter needs to go for interview under caution i went with him.According to the claim my lads 25 and as 3 kids,each claim was different names on the claim but both claims went through,checking my lads bank account says uc fast paument,now my lad didnt have a clue just thought it was this stocks thing.

He explained all this in interview he even gave them the lads bank details my lad made payment to,he's received a letter saying about receiving a caution and needs to pay money back which is fair enough but on top got to pay about £1500 extra which seems way over the top.Now they have no evidence what so ever my lad made this claim,which he never he fell for a scam,yes he received money but thinking it was from this stocks thing.

Would he be best to except it and pay nearly 4 grand back or refuse and let it go further,end of the day he's been scammed he's not made the claim and tbh i can't understand how its that easy to make a claim like this.My daughter signed on and had to attend interviews before she even got any money from them

[Wylderose]

Whitsend, whilst I sympathise with you wanting to defend your son, the Department for Works and Pensions would not have made an accusation like this without hard evidence.* The Scam would have been thoroughly investigated by a specialist Fraud Investigation Team

The first time he was admittedly drunk, but he cannot have been drunk enough that he did not know/was not responsible for his actions because he still carried through on giving the other lad 1/2 of the proceeds

The second time around he had no excuse, he willingly participated and on both counts he was a party to Fraud.
The £1500 on top of repaying the money he was not entitled to is a fine which is known as an administrative penalty.

When he was interviewed under caution, he must have admitted what he had done.
As a result, he would have been offered the Administrative Penalty as an alternative to being prosecuted in court for Fraud, the end result of which could have been Repayment in full of the money taken, a criminal record, and the possibility of a jail term

As he was not exactly an innocent bystander in all this, has two options:

1. Repay the money accept the AdPen and repay that too, or
2. Refuse to repay the money and the Department for Works and Pensions will Prosecute him for Fraud.
   He will then be excluded from claiming any form of Benefits for a period of time and may be sent to prison if found guilty.

In his position, I would repay what he took - It belongs to the state and not to him

[witsend1878]

The problem is he honestly didn't no it was a benefits scam,like stated never ever been in a job center hes just thick at times.I attended the interview with him they had no evidence that ahowed he made the claim cause he never made it,all they had was a bank account where money was paid*