Are benefit cheats really criminals?

species8472

NO the real criminals are the benefits office staff...............

Mr Sceptic

Because none of us are in any doubt that muggers, burglars and rapists are criminals. None of us would think twice about turning such people in to the authorities given the choice.

But too many people (usually those who don't pay tax!) view beneft fraud as a victimless crime - a technical offence which is somehow OK.

Benefit cheats are stealing money from me as surely as if they extracted banknotes from my wallet. They are not "people earning a little bit of cash on the side", they are thieves, stealing money from taxpayers.

curious115

yeah, to the tune of billions...oh wait, that's wall street. Anyhow, welfare cheats, disability cheats, medicare cheats, medicaid fraud. Who knows what else. It is a crime and I hope they that do get caught.

sgoldperson

YES. Oh are you going to say a mugger is a criminal? They are just earning a little money on the side. Don't say they are stealing it either, because a benefit cheat is STEALING FROM THE TAXPAYER. So if that isn't a crime then neither is any other type of theft. Anyway these other crimes are harder to catch. The cops DO look for these types of crimes and DO go after people they catch. Cops aren't responsible for benefit theft though. That is supposed to be caught by internal audits and investigations by the people giving the benefits.

guvnor

All criminals are the lowest of the low irrespective of what they do to become a criminal --

Just because they are not hurting anyone directly does not mean that its right and they should feel justified in doing it

Im sick and tired of thieves and burglars saying that their crimes do not affect anyone directly and their mitigation is always " well they are insured anyway " --what a load of crap

S C

Yes, they are taking money to which they are not entitled to.

This is tantamount to theft. What's the difference?

The benefits system is there to help people who need it.

Allen B

Yes, they're stealing from my pocket and are just like any other scummy thief.

deonejuan

Not sure how they define "benefit thieves". I personally know a quadro-dipper. I mean this fellow I know gets military disability, works at the Post Office, SSI, military retirement, and dry-land irrigation. No tellling what else. But the thing is: the majority of his monthly income is federally funded.

Phil K

Yes. Fraud is a criminal offence.

Mr Rosenkrantz

They are criminals. Your argument does not really stand up because you seem to be saying that as long as there are more serious crimes we should ignore supposedly less serious crimes.
You say it's "earning a bit of cash on the side", but it's rather more serious than that. If you are taking money you are not entitled to, then you leave less for the people who really need it. Social welfare is there to help the poorest in society. I've known people who earn Â£200 per day doing building work and then still claimed unemployment benefit. Am I supposed to applaud them for stealing money from people much poorer than them? All money that is taken in this way is basically taken from the elderly, the sick and the poor - those who really need it. I think that's pretty serious.

alan h

No one doubts that muggers, etc are criminals (No need to advertise)
Benefit cheats cost the honest public many thousands.
That is theft.
They are criminals (There are far worse crimes, but if I punched you in the nose you would not expect me to justify it by saying 'That is not as bad as kicking you')

athom

These poster campaigns lead to a lot of genuine claimants being accused of a crime they haven't committed. I really don't see how saying 'don't trust your neighbour!' is going to help social cohesion.

Of course there are cases of benefit fraud and they should be dealt with appropriately... but the same standard should be applied to everyone. I could name quite a few people taking 'a bit off the side' from public money. As they represent us in parliament, however, not much tends to be done about it...

Sunny

The true reason for those adverts is to actually make us beleive that the unemployed should not be given any sympathy like they used to be in the 60's 70's and 80's.

Captain Eyewash

For me it's a question of degrees, the government are distracting us from the huge amount of theft that goes on at the top.
So some poor bugger finds they can't survive on on Â£50 odd a week and get a job to supplement it. Now how does that compare to these PM's expense accounts?
Till we get some priority here I'm not going to point a finger at anyone.

ingthing2000

Benefits are supposed to be there to help people in genuine Need!..... These scum are taking money from people who really deserve it, and making money besides so they can live an affluent life-style!

I agree that muggers, etc, should be rounded up and dealt with..... but these cheats are Scum too! Shop the lot of them!!!

nick

They are thieving little wosnames but the real scummy crooks are the tax dodging smarmy old Etonian trash. IMHO, that is.

Alexander M

no they are not cheats, its human nature to earn a little extra to get by in life, police do it. i know some who work security at night for casual money and they don't even work, just sit on there thieving ****'s. everybody needs a little extra.

mike UK

British benefits are well known around the World as easy to collect by everybody and the ability to speak English is not even needed, it is the reason for mass immigration to the UK..

Of course stealing it is a crime but so is ILLEGAL immigration and that is not punished either

report me please

Yes, benefit cheats are classed as criminals. Just because there is no physical evidence, ie blood, weapons or victims, doesn't mean it's not as serious.

However, what we need to focus on is the amount of white collar crime that goes on across the country and, indeed the world. Things like tax evasion costs the government hundreds of millions of pounds per year. Benefit cheats are small fry in comparison, but at the end of the day a crime is a crime.

Daniel T

yes they are,

just the government doesn't want to put posters every where and not to scare people from going out e.g rapists and that.

so yes they are real crimingl

gordyboy73

I think the reason they have these adverts is because people like to think this isn't a crime and they are just highlighting the fact that it is i don't think they have them for say rapists is because the majority of people know that this is a crime (unless you live in khazakstan)

Jennywren

Yes! It's fraud!

Why should working taxpayers keep them? when they are also able to earn money!

Some of them ARE nasty criminals! mugging old ladies for their next fix!

rogerglyn

I'm a tax payer, they are removing money from my hard earned tax.

They are thieving from me.

ryko25

Hey Mike Ingham, thanks for your racist bile!

vambo the fourth

The vast majority of the money paid out in fraudulent benefit claims goes to unscrupulous landlords claiming for imaginary tenants, and in some cases, imaginary properties.

Cockney Sparrow

Yes they are criminals,stealing the tax payers money,lets see if the next government will do anything about it.

Tracey

Well I have just spent 3 months in prison for benefit fraud so I guess it is a crime.

EDIT: and like some one else said, the real crimes are the mp's who get Â£1000's of pounds in expenses to fit a kitchen in their 2nd homes whilst people who genuinely cant find work have to try and live on Â£46 a week.

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