A man has been jailed for 12 years for an “audacious and breath-taking” social welfare fraud.

63-year-old Paul Murray of no fixed abode claimed €248,000 under nine different names while he was living in Thailand.

He returned to Ireland every 3 months to claim jobseeker’s allowance.

He also fraudulently claimed disability and supplementary welfare allowances in a number of border and midland counties.

Murray had used a number of different aliases and various false documents to make the claims.

He was caught out when his brother who lived in Australia innocently applied for a passport which Murray had already taken out in his name thereby tipping off passport officials who then contacted the Department of Social Protection.

Murray had served time in the UK in 1994 for similar offences there when he claimed a total of stg£30,000.

http://www.newstalk.ie/2011/news/man-jailed-for-12-years-for-welfare-fraud/

Do you have his address? I could do with a few tips.

You have to hand it to some of these guys, yes they are a bunch of freemongers, but imagine the audacity and the skill - they are wasted, they could have ran their own businesses!

The very same guy used to visit my restaurant/bar in Phuket a few times each week.

He was a loner and never gave out to much info about himself.

I,m not surprised.

Can was probably trying to keep up with what his name was from day to day.

Do you have his address? I could do with a few tips.

You have to hand it to some of these guys, yes they are a bunch of freemongers, but imagine the audacity and the skill - they are wasted, they could have ran their own businesses!

Its sounds like he WAS running his own business...quite successfully too.

Well what do you expect we make it as easy as possible for these guys to claim benefit. ID cards were rejected and they can never produce a passport. I once stood behind a lady in a queue in the Nationwide Building Society who wanted to withdraw a large amount. When asked to produce some form of ID which went through the usual list driving licence etc but she had none of them of course. I have lived with ID''s in one form or another all my working life and now have a driving licence with my photo on it which I find very useful even though I no longer drive. However for some people mention any form of ID and you get a lecture on Orwell's 1984.

Sorry, but something does not ring true here.

It`s not that easy to claim benefits in the UK or in Ireland as some of you believe.

When my brother was claiming Job seekers allowance in the UK, he had to sign on every 2 weeks, show proof that he was applying for jobs and also was imposed to attend job club and attend frequent job interviews by appointments made by the officers at the job centres.

As for claiming disability and supplementary welfare allowances, the claimants are accessed at regular intervals by the Department of Social Security.

Although his total payout of 248,000 euros sounds a lot, the article does not quote for how long a period this was claimed.

Normally DSS and Job seekers allowances are not high for a single person, so I would guess that the sum of 248,000 euros was paid over a long period or he has a family, fictional or actual that he was also claiming for. I doubt that his income would have covered travelling expenses to Ireland every 3 months, so he was probably a business owner or working in Thailand.

The case as described here regarding Paul Murray, is just not possible.

Either there were more people involved with perpetrating this scam or the facts are completely wrong.

Sorry, but something does not ring true here.

It`s not that easy to claim benefits in the UK or in Ireland as some of you believe.

When my brother was claiming Job seekers allowance in the UK, he had to sign on every 2 weeks, show proof that he was applying for jobs and also was imposed to attend job club and attend frequent job interviews by appointments made by the officers at the job centres.

As for claiming disability and supplementary welfare allowances, the claimants are accessed at regular intervals by the Department of Social Security.

Although his total payout of 248,000 euros sounds a lot, the article does not quote for how long a period this was claimed.

Normally DSS and Job seekers allowances are not high for a single person, so I would guess that the sum of 248,000 euros was paid over a long period or he has a family, fictional or actual that he was also claiming for. I doubt that his income would have covered travelling expenses to Ireland every 3 months, so he was probably a business owner or working in Thailand.

The case as described here regarding Paul Murray, is just not possible.

Either there were more people involved with perpetrating this scam or the facts are completely wrong.

Here is a link to some cases i found by googling. I think your wrong in saying it isn't easy. http://benefitfraud.blogspot.com/ .

Plus, read this about preventing benefit fraud. Basically there saying if you get caught you are very unlucky. Says it all really. http://www.benefitfr...raud/index.html

Forgot to say, i know the cases are not as big as this mans, but it goes to show how easy it must be. There are thousands of people doing it.

Also, some time ago i watched a tv programme about catching benefit cheats. There were people with very expensive cars and houses, who said they couldn't work. There was also an old lady who was claiming for about 30 people and having the money being put into seperate bank accounts. It was amazing. I'll try to find the story.

Edited July 29, 201114 yr by dean999

Sorry, but something does not ring true here.

It`s not that easy to claim benefits in the UK or in Ireland as some of you believe.

When my brother was claiming Job seekers allowance in the UK, he had to sign on every 2 weeks, show proof that he was applying for jobs and also was imposed to attend job club and attend frequent job interviews by appointments made by the officers at the job centres.

As for claiming disability and supplementary welfare allowances, the claimants are accessed at regular intervals by the Department of Social Security.

Although his total payout of 248,000 euros sounds a lot, the article does not quote for how long a period this was claimed.

Normally DSS and Job seekers allowances are not high for a single person, so I would guess that the sum of 248,000 euros was paid over a long period or he has a family, fictional or actual that he was also claiming for. I doubt that his income would have covered travelling expenses to Ireland every 3 months, so he was probably a business owner or working in Thailand.

The case as described here regarding Paul Murray, is just not possible.

Either there were more people involved with perpetrating this scam or the facts are completely wrong.

I know guys who claim disability allowance from the UK in Thailand, using an address and a doctor in Spain. Every year the Doctor writes a letter and gives it to one of the guys friends in Spain, together with the Application form that has been scanned and sent to the friend, who then posts it all from Spain to the UK.

Sorry, but something does not ring true here.

It`s not that easy to claim benefits in the UK or in Ireland as some of you believe.

When my brother was claiming Job seekers allowance in the UK, he had to sign on every 2 weeks, show proof that he was applying for jobs and also was imposed to attend job club and attend frequent job interviews by appointments made by the officers at the job centres.

As for claiming disability and supplementary welfare allowances, the claimants are accessed at regular intervals by the Department of Social Security.

Although his total payout of 248,000 euros sounds a lot, the article does not quote for how long a period this was claimed.

Normally DSS and Job seekers allowances are not high for a single person, so I would guess that the sum of 248,000 euros was paid over a long period or he has a family, fictional or actual that he was also claiming for. I doubt that his income would have covered travelling expenses to Ireland every 3 months, so he was probably a business owner or working in Thailand.

The case as described here regarding Paul Murray, is just not possible.

Either there were more people involved with perpetrating this scam or the facts are completely wrong.

Here is a link to some cases i found by googling. I think your wrong in saying it isn't easy. http://benefitfraud.blogspot.com/ .

Plus, read this about preventing benefit fraud. Basically there saying if you get caught you are very unlucky. Says it all really. http://www.benefitfr...raud/index.html

Forgot to say, i know the cases are not as big as this mans, but it goes to show how easy it must be. There are thousands of people doing it.

Also, some time ago i watched a tv programme about catching benefit cheats. There were people with very expensive cars and houses, who said they couldn't work. There was also an old lady who was claiming for about 30 people and having the money being put into seperate bank accounts. It was amazing. I'll try to find the story.

I can't find it.

Sorry, but something does not ring true here.

It`s not that easy to claim benefits in the UK or in Ireland as some of you believe.

When my brother was claiming Job seekers allowance in the UK, he had to sign on every 2 weeks, show proof that he was applying for jobs and also was imposed to attend job club and attend frequent job interviews by appointments made by the officers at the job centres.

As for claiming disability and supplementary welfare allowances, the claimants are accessed at regular intervals by the Department of Social Security.

Although his total payout of 248,000 euros sounds a lot, the article does not quote for how long a period this was claimed.

Normally DSS and Job seekers allowances are not high for a single person, so I would guess that the sum of 248,000 euros was paid over a long period or he has a family, fictional or actual that he was also claiming for. I doubt that his income would have covered travelling expenses to Ireland every 3 months, so he was probably a business owner or working in Thailand.

The case as described here regarding Paul Murray, is just not possible.

Either there were more people involved with perpetrating this scam or the facts are completely wrong.

here is the link from rte http://www.rte.ie/ne...04/murrayp.html there are people out there that know how to play the system. irelands economy is been destroyed by this sort of thing. sometimes i think i would be better quiting my job and been like these guys, they get most things for free,including rented apartments.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/luxury-flats-to-be-set-aside-for-social-housing-2833257.html read this and you'll understand .

Edited July 29, 201114 yr by irishken

Sorry, but something does not ring true here.

It`s not that easy to claim benefits in the UK or in Ireland as some of you believe.

When my brother was claiming Job seekers allowance in the UK, he had to sign on every 2 weeks, show proof that he was applying for jobs and also was imposed to attend job club and attend frequent job interviews by appointments made by the officers at the job centres.

As for claiming disability and supplementary welfare allowances, the claimants are accessed at regular intervals by the Department of Social Security.

Although his total payout of 248,000 euros sounds a lot, the article does not quote for how long a period this was claimed.

Normally DSS and Job seekers allowances are not high for a single person, so I would guess that the sum of 248,000 euros was paid over a long period or he has a family, fictional or actual that he was also claiming for. I doubt that his income would have covered travelling expenses to Ireland every 3 months, so he was probably a business owner or working in Thailand.

The case as described here regarding Paul Murray, is just not possible.

Either there were more people involved with perpetrating this scam or the facts are completely wrong.

This guy had to have addresses in Ireland....and was likely subletting his property.

A parasite.

Paul Murray gets 12 years for fiddling the system and politicians get????

Here are the real culprits that cheat the UK tax-payers.