A gang of fraudsters from Bulgaria defrauded UK taxpayers of more than £54m.
Gunesh Ali, Patritsia Paneva, Stoyan Stoyanov, Tsveta Todorova and Galina Nikolova managed to steal 53,901,959.82 pounds from the Universal Credit payment system. Authorities described the scheme as "unprecedented".
The money was used for luxury cars, fashionable clothes and expensive watches.
The five criminals submitted more than 6,000 false applications for government money using a sophisticated scheme in North London, the Express reported.
For four and a half years, the gang operated the cunning scheme through three shops in Wood Green. They also had multiple false identities that they used to submit false claims for benefits.
Each claim was given a different mobile number and was accompanied by a host of dubious documents, including tenancy agreements, fake payslips and bogus letters from GPs, landlords and employees. If the request was rejected, they simply resubmitted it until it was accepted. In some cases, claims were made using the details of real people. These individuals took money from the gang so that their identity would be used. Over a hundred bank accounts were used in the scheme.
An operation is currently underway to recover the lost money, assuming that some of it was invested in Bulgarian properties.
The UK's biggest-ever benefit fraud investigation began when officers noticed a pattern in claimants' names and addresses.
After raiding properties on May 5, 2021, authorities seized more than 900 devices and found £750,000 in cash hidden in a suitcase under a bed.
Following the arrests, the assets of the individuals involved have been frozen. Police confiscated cars including Audis, high-end clothes, jewelery and watches.
Officers also found wads of banknotes at their homes.
Ali was released as part of the investigation, during which he escaped and fled to Bulgaria. However, on 25 February 2023 he was extradited back to the UK to stand trial.
One of the locations used for the massive scam was a Bulgarian food store called Antonia Food in Wood Green, North London.
Nikolova, 38, Stoyanov, 27, Todorova, 52, Ali, 33, and Paneva, 26, pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering offenses at Wood Green Crown Court.
They will be sentenced in May and face a record prison term.
Ben Reed, a specialist prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service's Serious Economic, Organized and International Crime Directorate, told The Sun: "This is fraud on an industrial scale by an organized crime group. They carried out a sustained attack on a system designed to support the most vulnerable people in our society, and treated her as a money machine to fund their own lavish lifestyles."
"If you were walking down the street in Wood Green, you'd see a shop on the corner and it would look legit. You'd walk in the front door and there'd be shelves of food and drink. But when you go through the back you'll find additional premises, in which there are desks and computers. It is from these premises that the gang submits thousands of false claims for benefits to the Department for Work and Pensions, supported by false documents such as leases, employment contracts and the like," he added.
Mel Stride MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said: "I am immensely proud of the work of the investigators who, working with the Crown Prosecution Service, have broken up this organized crime group. Today's convictions underline our commitment to protecting taxpayers' money, and rightly so and to fairly bring to justice those who steal from the public purse. My message is simple - if you are committing benefits fraud, you are defrauding the taxpayer and we will catch you."
The minister responsible for combating benefit fraud, Paul Maynard MP, added: "Our investigators work tirelessly to catch benefits fraudsters and this case builds on our plan to save £1.3 billion from fraud and error. "
"At the same time, our anti-fraud plan will help us implement a long-term strategy to minimize fraud and error and deliver value and fairness for taxpayers," he added. /BGNES