27,000 Uk Pound Fraud By Welfare Cheat Living In Thailand

[yorkman]

But none as good as the immigrants who have conned their way into the UK and that includes many who arrived from Eastern Europe as they neither had the backbone, the political will or simply they felt they were a perscuted minority that won over the do-gooders of the day and were allowed to stay. You usually find it is to that group the most moralistic, egotistical and generally arrogant people come from when they spout on about the good deed someone has done to shop this guy. Whilst his actions can not be condoned it is him and his family that have previously stood up and defended Britain such that it was an attractive place to run for these real immigrant lowlifes who were able to get to Brtain in the first place and now have the freedom to pontificant over such matters.

Somewhere in here is a very good point Esprit. But I read it 3 times and I am still not quite sure what you are saying.

[khunlungphudhu]

Illegal? Yes! Morally wrong? Yes!

But how about the £500,000 the British government steals every year from the retirees that have worked all their lives, paid their dues every week but choose to enjoy a sunnier life and move to a foriegn country like Thailand?

Because 'they' are the government and what 'they' do is legal, does that make it morally right? Is it any less robbery than this bloke above?

I do not think so!

[Serene]

The original post seems to indicate his initial claim for benefits was legitimate.Therefore,if he hadn't have left the UK he would have been fully entitled to the sums received.

His choice was between a life in York financed by the social or a clandestine life in Thailand financed by the same source.At 63 years old in his circumstances ,I know what my choice would have been!

His fault was getting caught!

Thailand is full of Farang like this.

[howtoescape]

Illegal? Yes! Morally wrong? Yes!

But how about the £500,000 the British government steals every year from the retirees that have worked all their lives, paid their dues every week but choose to enjoy a sunnier life and move to a foriegn country like Thailand?

Isnt it closer to 5 billion i am sure pensioners can afford 500k between them.

the average folk now realises he can have a better life on the social then working, until the government makes working a better proposition things arent going to change.

Most young people cant afford to buy a house anymore, jack in work have a couple of kiddies hey presto here are the keys to your new 3 bed house, which you can buy in 3 years at half the actual value.

[wilko]

Welfare cheat - gets away with 27k....

Tax cheat/exile....gets away with 100s of thousands!

[Briggsy]

Illegal? Yes! Morally wrong? Yes!

But how about the £500,000 the British government steals every year from the retirees that have worked all their lives, paid their dues every week but choose to enjoy a sunnier life and move to a foriegn country like Thailand?

Isnt it closer to 5 billion i am sure pensioners can afford 500k between them.

the average folk now realises he can have a better life on the social then working, until the government makes working a better proposition things arent going to change.

Most young people cant afford to buy a house anymore, jack in work have a couple of kiddies hey presto here are the keys to your new 3 bed house, which you can buy in 3 years at half the actual value.

Indeed. It happens all the time. A couple I heard about in my home town pretended to separate. She scored a house off the council. There was also a story on incapacity benefit on the BBC this week and the approx. 2 million people who are 'voluntarily' unemployed because there is zero point in them getting a job because they would be no better off.

Back to the bloke, I suspect he bragged about his scam down soi 6. There's a lot of benefit office informants down there.

[mikethevigoman]

The govt has already offered cash rewards for informing on benefit scammers.

The rich and powerful in the UK have been screwing over the poor for hundreds of years, so I have no problem with the poor trying to take a bit back.

Yeh right - Except benefit crime is screwing everyone, including large numbers of hard working people who are not rich but actually believe it a good idea to take responsibility for their own lives instead of putting their hand out.

So we have hard working people who are not well off paying into the welfare system and scrounging scum who are not entitled to welfare helping themselves.

The guy's a parasite.

And I have the perfect punishment - A peddled powered electricity generator - Let him spend ten hours a day peddling away to generate electricity - low carbon energy and a chance to be some use in life.

Together with the estimated 60% of illegitimate disability benefit claiments I reckon the UK could become and export of peddle powered electricity.

I'd leave the lights on at night to do my bit at keeping them in useful employment.

I have read enough of GHs posts to know his comments were tongue in cheek, there is so much of this in the uk that taxes are what they are to cover it, i dont see a way to stop it short of tagging all the unemployed ,and have an alarm that rings if they stray 3 miles from home, enter a pub or light up a cigarette !

[Neeranam]

I know at least 20 guys who are scamming the UK government. I am not one of them but would never grass them up. I couldn't live with it in my conscious but if they can I am quite happy for them.

[Dave the Dude]

I think he looks like Chris Evans . . . .

Simon

And tonight,Mathew I'm going to be...........

STARS IN THEIR EYES. How much will you pay him?????

[GuestHouse]

I have read enough of GHs posts to know his comments were tongue in cheek, there is so much of this in the uk that taxes are what they are to cover it, i dont see a way to stop it short of tagging all the unemployed ,and have an alarm that rings if they stray 3 miles from home, enter a pub or light up a cigarette !

No your wrong.... My comments are not tongue in cheek.

In fact I've toned them down.

I absolutely believe that 'welfare claimants' respond to market forces just like everything else in the economy - You make more money available for welfare claimants and you get more welfare claimants.

How you we put an end to it?

Bring back the work houses - Segregated sleeping bunkhouses upstairs, a generator hall stuffed with 'pedalo-generators' in the middle floor and a gruel kitchen in the basement.... and compulsory chemical contraception for anyone living on welfare.

And to put a stop to guys living it in Thailand - Payment of benefit should be onditional on surrendering of passports.

Edited February 6, 2008 by GuestHouse

[scotsman]

I don't think many people know how many rules there are for claiming benefits, then when you do qualify for them the rules change again. If you inform them of any change it will take you a long time to get back on again if you can with the same amount of benefit. Its a mine field of rules that change all the time.My Mother had to get the citizens advice to help her with all the paper work to claim for her rights as it is so complicated.

[Westerner]

I have read enough of GHs posts to know his comments were tongue in cheek, there is so much of this in the uk that taxes are what they are to cover it, i dont see a way to stop it short of tagging all the unemployed ,and have an alarm that rings if they stray 3 miles from home, enter a pub or light up a cigarette !

No your wrong.... My comments are not tongue in cheek.

In fact I've toned them down.

I absolutely believe that 'welfare claimants' respond to market forces just like everything else in the economy - You make more money available for welfare claimants and you get more welfare claimants.

How you we put an end to it?

Bring back the work houses - Segregated sleeping bunkhouses upstairs, a generator hall stuffed with 'pedalo-generators' in the middle floor and a gruel kitchen in the basement.... and compulsory chemical contraception for anyone living on welfare.

And to put a stop to guys living it in Thailand - Payment of benefit should be onditional on surrendering of passports.

What an excellent idea!

[burman]

Yes because unemployed people should not have the right to travel outside of their country.

Edited February 6, 2008 by burman

[khunlungphudhu]

Illegal? Yes! Morally wrong? Yes!

But how about the £500,000 the British government steals every year from the retirees that have worked all their lives, paid their dues every week but choose to enjoy a sunnier life and move to a foreign country like Thailand?

Isnt it closer to 5 billion i am sure pensioners can afford 500k between them.

You are right of course, and I do apologize. My only excuse is it was late and I was tired.

The amount is just under the half billion, with that every UK expat would receive annual increases which they are now denied.

Does that make it any less immoral?

[HS Mauberley]

Before the guy is beaten to death with your rolled up copies of the Daily Mail, a little bit of persepctive on this:

Annual cost of benefit fraud: (about) £800 million

Annual subsidies to UK arms (murder) industry: £990 million (2001 figures)

Cost of UK participation in Iraqi war: £5 billion

Annual tax revenue raised through tobacco sales: £9 billion

[taxexile]

Tax cheat/exile....gets away with 100s of thousands!

if that is aimed at me then perhaps you would care to elaborate a little on your accusation.

How you we put an end to it?

if hundreds of thousands of immigrants from poland and other countries have been able to find work , then why cant hundreds and thousands of brits find work.

long term benefit recipients soon lose all incentive and ambition to work , and are content to scrounge.

benefits should be a short term emergency measure , not a long term lifestyle option for the lazy.

if they put as much thought and effort into finding work and/or legitimate ways of making money as they do into working the system then they might find themselves better off financially and with more self respect and sense of responsibility towards others.

benefit fraudsters are stealing taxpayers money , as are politicians who bend rules and exploit loopholes in their expense entitlements.

they all need to be brought to book.

the guy who lives in thailand whilst claiming benefits was knowingly claiming falsely and deserved his punishment , light as it was.

those who say 'good luck to him' for making 27000 are really living in a moral vacuum , but i suspect they know that already and couldnt care less.

[norrona]

Yes because unemployed people should not have the right to travel outside of their country.

I think what they meant was hand your passport in and if you are going away for a genuine reason then explain it and have it in writing...2 solutions there it creates a job and it stops people claiming and taking liberties...it would probably get a lot of people working also, I mean the ones who can but choose not to!

if they can afford to travel overseas then how come they need money from the social???

I know people on the sick who are doing casual work, don't agree with it but it's them who are taking the chance....but the fact that it doesn't pay for someone with a family to go out and work and carry on sitting on their arse is all whats wrong with this politivally correct strange country....isn't this why we have the influx of immigrants these days

[burman]

those who say 'good luck to him' for making 27000 are really living in a moral vacuum , but i suspect they know that already and couldnt care less.

Why do you say that? I've found that people commit/support as much crime as they dare risk to get what they want in life. I expect you do as well.

[saraburioz]

I left Oz 15 years ago after ripping off ANZ for $300,000, so I understand fraud.

However, they were very surprised when I paid it back 5 years later in full with all the interest!

If I hadn't 'won the lottery' I wouldn't have paid it.

[taxexile]

I've found that people commit/support as much crime as they dare risk to get what they want in life

its called living in a moral vacuum.

I expect you do as well.

sorry to disappoint , but no i dont.

call me old fashioned but i've always worked for what i want in life , and the more i worked , the greater were the rewards.......and the more i appreciated them.

unlike thailand , there are no end of opportunities available in the uk for people of all classes and backgrounds to improve themselves. this naturally involves some forethought , application and committment , and these qualities are rarely found in those who seek an easy refuge in the long term use of state handouts.

there is no way anybody can justify using the benefit system as a long term and regular income stream other than laziness , slovenliness , and behaving like a parasite or criminal. the system is unfortunately so lax in its administration that it is just too tempting and easy for the weak and the lazy to sit back and becoming grasping and ambitionless.

parasites , living on handouts provided by the industry of others.

[GuestHouse]

Annual cost of benefit fraud: (about) £800 million

As I stated before, it is not simply the financial cost of benefit fraud but the fact that the existence of wide spread benefit fraud causes people who work for a living (often at low wages) to question why they themselves are paying into a broken system - This risks the withdrawal of popular support for the welfare system and with that the existence of welfare support for people who genuinely and desperately need it.

I would also argue that paying welfare to people who are capable of working is harming them and their families - it is a motivation to live off the state and removes all the undeniable benefits of working, taking responsibility for yourself - not just for adults claiming welfare but also for the families they are raising.

The road to hel_l is paved with good intentions.

Edited February 6, 2008 by GuestHouse

[hullmonkey1]

the housing benefit probably only paid for a rented house that was his home and he wanted to keep it on in case things went tits up in Thailand. The pension should be payable anywere in the world. This guy isnt a criminal IMO....fitted a carpet <deleted> I know guys that have not had a real job and claimed over £150 a week for years and they were too busy with other work to come and fix my roof

[Pepe']

It will only get worse...

[JetsetBkk]

the housing benefit probably only paid for a rented house that was his home and he wanted to keep it on in case things went tits up in Thailand. The pension should be payable anywere in the world. This guy isnt a criminal IMO....fitted a carpet <deleted> I know guys that have not had a real job and claimed over £150 a week for years and they were too busy with other work to come and fix my roof

its called living in a moral vacuum.

[burman]

I've found that people commit/support as much crime as they dare risk to get what they want in life

its called living in a moral vacuum.

I expect you do as well.

sorry to disappoint , but no i dont.

So I assume by that statement that means you have never....

a) used counterfeit software

wore counterfeit clothes

c) smoked a pack of ciggys from over the border

d) used illegal drugs of any kind

e) copied an album for a friend

f) downloaded music

g) etc etc

Are you telling me taxexile that you have never committed a crime?

edit: no idea why the smiley keeps coming up whilst I put in section b, no hidden meaning anyways!

Edited February 6, 2008 by burman

[burman]

Annual cost of benefit fraud: (about) £800 million

As I stated before, it is not simply the financial cost of benefit fraud but the fact that the existence of wide spread benefit fraud causes people who work for a living (often at low wages) to question why they themselves are paying into a broken system

Now this is an interesting point. Admittance that the welfare system is a broken system.

Now everybody knows its a broken system and I guess that gives people choices.

1. Pay into a broken system and lose money to it.

2. Take from the broken system and take money from it.

Now you GH choose number 1 and I do appreciate it frustrates you. Other people with perhaps (or maybe not) less options and willing to take a bit more risk take option 2.

The system is broken today, and it'll be broken tomorrow and if you come back in a few years time then for sure it'll be broken then. Should you use that to your advantage or your disadvantage?

[taxexile]

So I assume by that statement that means you have never....

a) used counterfeit software

wore counterfeit clothes

c) smoked a pack of ciggys from over the border

d) used illegal drugs of any kind

e) copied an album for a friend

f) downloaded music

g) etc etc

er ....... well , ive never fiddled the benefit / tax system.

[Pepe']

So I assume by that statement that means you have never....

a) used counterfeit software

wore counterfeit clothes

c) smoked a pack of ciggys from over the border

d) used illegal drugs of any kind

e) copied an album for a friend

f) downloaded music

g) etc etc

er ....... well , ive never fiddled the benefit / tax system.

-------------------

Reality is we have all done some legally questionable things in our lives.

We really don't have the right to judge others or call them "European low life." It will after all come out in the wash.

Gee on another thread one of the posters accused another TV member and myself as being "retards."

That's outrageous. I've never met him and it takes most people meeting me at least a few times

to realize that I'm a retard and several weeks maybe a month to see that I'm a low life as well...

[Westerner]

£27,000 fraud by welfare cheat

By Megi Rychlikova THE PRESS , YORK.

A great-grandfather conned his way to £27,000 in benefits as he lived in Thailand with his new wife, a court heard.

David Martindale, 63, claimed three different state handouts on the grounds that he lived alone in Giles Avenue, Tang Hall, York, said James Lake, prosecuting for the Department of Work and Pensions.

In reality, he spent most of his time in Thailand with his wife, and their family of three, supporting them on British taxpayers' money.

But an anonymous phone call tipped off the authorities and the great-grandfather turned benefit scrounger ended up facing a jail term in the dock at York Crown Court.

"The total amount you had unlawfully is quite considerable," Judge Stephen Ashurst told him.

"I have to mark this deliberate conduct of failure to notify the change of your circumstances with a prison sentence, but I am going to suspend that sentence to take account of your guilty plea and the personal mitigation.

"Part of the rationale is that by retaining your liberty you are going to be in a better position in the long-term to pay off your debt to the community."

Martindale originally brought his Thai bride Nitya Kaswangsa, now believed to be 30, to York in 2001 and the pair married at the city's register office.

But life in Tang Hall soured for Nitya. She became fed-up and moved back to Thailand.

Defence barrister David Ward said Martindale had already repaid half the money and was repaying the rest.

Martindale, of Giles Avenue, Tang Hall, pleaded guilty to three charges of benefit fraud.

He was jailed for six months, suspended for 12 months on condition that he does 200 hours' unpaid work.

He must also pay the prosecution's £250 costs.

Mr Lake said Martindale started claiming housing benefit and council tax benefit in 2002 and was awarded pension credit in addition in April 2004. The authorities believed he lived alone in Giles Avenue.

But in reality between January 2004 and May 2007 he spent 29 months out of 42 in Thailand and a police raid found long-term visas granted by the Thai consulate in Britain in Martindale's York address.

He could only claim the benefits provided he spent less than four weeks living abroad.

The authorities also heard he had fitted a carpet in England for cash in hand in 2006. In total, Martindale got £15,499.80 in pension credit, £9,750.85 in housing benefit and £2,332.25 in council tax benefit he was not entitled to.

Mr Ward said Nitya Kaswangsa originally lived in this country, but could not cope with British life, so returned to her own country. Martindale spent the money supporting her, paying school fees and on air fares to and from Bangkok.

The couple had a six-year old child and she had a 12-year-old child by a previous marriage and a 13-year-old adopted child.

His benefit claim was originally honest, but once he realised he had broken the rules by living in Thailand, he did not have the honesty to admit it to the authorities.

He had four daughters by his first marriage, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

11:08am Friday 25th January 2008

I over heard a scouser telling his mates he was claiming in the uk and only goes back to sign on, and when he does he takes cigarettes to cover his costs, pattayas finest !

He is just low-life scum. Let's hope he gets caught at customs!

[GuestHouse]

Annual cost of benefit fraud: (about) £800 million

As I stated before, it is not simply the financial cost of benefit fraud but the fact that the existence of wide spread benefit fraud causes people who work for a living (often at low wages) to question why they themselves are paying into a broken system

Now this is an interesting point. Admittance that the welfare system is a broken system.

Now everybody knows its a broken system and I guess that gives people choices.

1. Pay into a broken system and lose money to it.

2. Take from the broken system and take money from it.

Now you GH choose number 1 and I do appreciate it frustrates you. Other people with perhaps (or maybe not) less options and willing to take a bit more risk take option 2.

The system is broken today, and it'll be broken tomorrow and if you come back in a few years time then for sure it'll be broken then. Should you use that to your advantage or your disadvantage?

The line of thought offered here is that we should view the welfare system as a benefit or cost to ourselves.

I do not take that view - I regard the 'foundations' of welfare system as a mark of civilisation and essential to ensuring the welfare of those who genuinely need help.

I do not regard people who rip the welfare system off as robbing me (I after all am currently paying no tax) rather I regard it as placing at risk the whole welfare system and hence the help for those people who desperately need support.

I would have no qualms over shopping a welfare scrounger, they are abusing a system that was set up to help the most disadvantaged and needful in our society.

The term ‘Parasitic Scum’ is hardly harsh enough.