Cross-border benefit cheats pocketing £700,000 in payments

Cross-border benefit fraudsters have illegally pocketed almost £700,000 from the North's welfare system in the past three years, new figures revealed today.

Cross-border benefit fraudsters have illegally pocketed almost £700,000 (€763,160) from the North's welfare system in the past three years, new figures revealed today.

Forty-eight of them have been caught falsely claiming off the Social Security Agency since 2006, according to Stormont records. They have taken an average of £14,393 (€17,116) each.

Scams include people from the North requesting jobseekers' allowance despite working in the Republic, and southern-based criminals adopting false northern identities to make claims over the border.

The statistics were outlined just weeks after the Irish Government revealed the extent of its own problem with cross-border fraud.

The Republic's Department of Social and Family Affairs said it had thwarted €300,000 worth of illegitimate claims in the first six months of this year alone.

The North's figures were obtained by the chair of Stormont's Social Development committee, Simon Hamilton, through an Assembly question.

"First and foremost, I am appalled that there is so much cross-border benefit fraud taking place," said the Strangford representative.

"In just over three years, some 48 people have been caught trying to pick the pockets of the people of Northern Ireland of nearly £700,000 (£690,870).

"This works out at an average fraud of £14,393 (€17,116) which underscores how long some frauds have been going on to have accumulated such an amount of money."

Mr Hamilton said the real scale of the problem was undoubtedly much greater.

"Perhaps the biggest message to come out of these statistics is that this simply reflects those who have actually been caught and it is fair to assume that there are many more individuals who are defrauding the social security system in this cross-border manner and haven't been caught yet," he added.

"However, it is also clear that there is good work being carried out by the Social Security Agency in apprehending people living either here or in the Irish Republic making double claims.

"The signal must go out to fraudsters and those contemplating engaging in fraud that they can and will be caught.

"I would encourage the Social Security Agency to continue with this work and ensure that they catch and prosecute as many cross-border fraudsters as they can and that they work with whatever authorities they have to in the Republic to assist them in stopping these fraudsters."