Mobile working Toolkit

SMS helping catch benefit cheats

Kable

Published: 02 Dec 2005 17:10 GMT

East Riding of Yorkshire Council set up its 'Text a Fraud' service in April. People can text the council when they suspect a fraud is being committed through the service, which allows users to remain anonymous.

According to a statement issued on 30 November 2005, the service has resulted in a 10 percent increase in referrals over the past six months. The council's Benefit Fraud Investigations Service has had over 500 referrals with 10 percent coming from text. The service, supplied by Dialogue Communications, made 32 formal cautions, issued 93 administrative penalties and prosecuted 27 people for benefit fraud.

Andrew Hardy, fraud investigation manager at the council, said the service has helped identify over £435,000 of fraudulently claimed benefit.

"We do have several lines of communication in place, such as a benefit hotline and an email system, but this new SMS service has made a huge impact," he said.

"We are continually looking for new ways to encourage people to report suspected fraud in confidence and this new text system is an alternative form which seems to be working."