Photo credit: Evening Standard
A Bulgarian migrant has ĥelped a gang in making away with £54m which is Britain’s ever benefit fraud.
Daily Mail reports that the man, Stoyan Stoyanov, however claimed he was shortchanged after arriving in the UK.
The gang, based in Eastern Europe, hijacked 6,000 identities 6to make claims for Universal Credit and used the names of children living in Bulgaria as part of the scam.
They proceeded to say up three “benefit factories” in London to issue fake tenancy agreements, counterfeit payslips and forged letters from landlords, employers and GPs to trick the Department of Work and Pensions.
Other accused persons are Galina Nikolova, Tsevtka Todorova, Oyunesh Ali and Patristia Paneva. All the accused have admitted fraud and money launderette offences.
According to Stoyanov’s lawyer, Alisdair Williamson KC, his client was left penningless after being “cheated out of his wages,” when he first went to the UK.
The court was told how DWP investigators searched the fraudsters’ homes and found shopping bags crammed with designer goods, Rolex watches, ĵackets and wads of clothes.
The proceeds of their crime was laundered through a number of accounts and then withdrawn in cash.
