TIP-OFFS by members of
the public alleging someone they know is committing
social welfare fraud are up a massive 480% on last
year.
There were 522 tip-offs given to the welfare fraud
office of the Department of Social and Family
Affairs in the first two months of this year - up
from 109 in the same period last year. More than 250
tip-offs were about someone allegedly claiming
benefits while working while 114 were for alleged
breaches of the single mother cohabitation rules.
Just 62 complaints were made about people claiming
benefits while possibly living outside the State,
Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin told
'The Irish Times'. The figures show there were 604
complaints in the whole of 2007. The figure last
year was 1,044, with complaints "rocketing" in the
last three months.
The Department said many other reports of alleged
fraud were being made at Social Welfare office
counters.
Complaints can be made anonymously by phone or
email. “A lot of people had not been aware that such
reports could be made anonymously. They had believed
that they had to give their name and addresses and
they were unwilling to do that,” said Ms Hanafin.
She described the 480% rise as "astonishing" and
said it “shows that people don’t want their money
wasted.”
“Each and every (report) is investigated. Not all of
them are correct. In some cases, it is shown that
there isn’t a problem, but we follow up on every one
of them," she added. |
