Expat benefit scroungers cost Britain £82m a year

SPAIN, Pakistan and Turkey are the top spots where expat benefits ­fraudsters enjoy their ill-gotten gains in the sun.

Expat benefit scroungers cost Britain £82m a yearKaren Trant moved to India despite being 'too ill' to leave her house [IG]

More than 1,600 cases were reported in the three countries alone last year.

An estimated £82million was paid out for bogus claims across 155 countries in total last year, says the Department for Work and Pensions.

More than £5million was sent to Britons living in Spain alone where 769 cases were investigated.

But the head of Britain’s benefits investigators, announcing a big ­crackdown on fraud abroad, warned there would be no hiding place for those cheating the system.

One of the biggest scams uncovered in Spain involved William Bunce, 54, and Berwyn Jones, 50, from Pontypool, south Wales, who claimed more than £140,000 pretending they were both single and unfit for work.

They were jailed for four months each in June after being ­discovered enjoying a life of luxury in Malaga.

Last month Karen Trant, 51, of Dartmouth, Devon, was jailed for 27 months after claiming £134,000 on the basis she was ­agoraphobic.

The divorced mother-of-two spent the cash on a holiday flat in Indian party paradise Goa, where she stayed for up to six months at a time, and on plastic surgery and horse-riding.

Anyone found guilty will have to pay the stolen money back and under tougher new rules they will have to do so more quickly

Richard West, DWP’s head of fraud investigations

DWP minister Mark Harper said officials were toughening up the system and working more closely with other countries to bring fraudsters to ­justice. The Government is also cracking down on ­people taking the benefits of a claimant who has died.

Mr Harper said: “We’re clamping down on fraud, both at home and abroad, so money goes to those who need it most rather than lining the pockets of criminals sunning ­themselves overseas.”

Fraud abroad includes claims by people leaving Britain after their claim starts without telling officials and families who fail to report the death of someone living abroad who was getting ­benefits.

The DWP’s head of fraud investigations Richard West said: “Our investigators have been given greater ­powers to prevent and deter people from committing benefit fraud.

“These recent cases should send a clear message to any criminals cheating the system overseas as they highlight that it doesn’t matter where they are in the world, we have the means to catch them.

“Anyone found guilty will have to pay the stolen money back and under tougher new rules they will have to do so more quickly. That’s on top of any prison sentence or fine handed out by the courts. If appropriate we will also pursue their assets to strip them of the benefits of crime.”

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