Published on:
26
June 2003
Benefit cheats should watch out - a new weapon has been developed to help in the battle against fraud.
Costing upwards of £2 billion each year, benefit fraud steals vital cash from schools, roads and public services.
Now Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling Councils and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) are doing something about it with the launch of a new website Fraud Central.
The dedicated counter fraud website replaces the successful online fraud reporting system on Clackmannanshire's award winning website www.clacksweb.org.uk. More than 100 quality fraud referrals were made by members of the public since its launch in December 2001.
Fraud Central is bigger and better and hopes to help in the crackdown on all forms of benefit fraud - free eye tests and free prescriptions costs the NHS millions each year. In addition to reporting instances of benefit fraud the new website also contains a wealth of information about fraud including a regularly updated database of fraudulent activities which anyone could fall victim to.
Clackmannanshire Council secured £18,000 from the DWP to develop the secure, stand alone website. Beat benefit fraud on www.fraudcentral.org.uk.