Did you see our fraud investigators making their television debut on the BBC's "Saints and Scroungers" programme recently?

The series, fronted by Matt Allwright, looked at both sides of the benefits system, focusing on the "scroungers" who steal from the public purse and the Councils taking positive action to hold the fraudsters to account and the "saints" who help people access the benefits and assistance they are entitled to, but maybe weren’t aware or were unable to claim.

Former Kingswood resident, Younus Algohar, was prosecuted by the Council earlier this year for making a series of false representations to gain benefits that he was not entitled to. The programme showed how our investigators uncovered the fraud, which totalled £77,646 and spanned three different addresses in two boroughs.

Anonymous investigator

Due to the nature of his job, the lead officer responsible for the investigation remained anonymous during filming. Afterwards he said, "All in all it was a really interesting experience, although a bit surreal sometimes with cameras following me round. Hopefully however, it will help to put off any potential fraudsters in our borough as they now know that we have a zero tolerance apporach to fraud."

Report it

If you have any information or concerns about a suspected fraud you can report it in confidence online, by email to fraudstoppers@reigate-banstead.gov.uk or call 01737 276483.