Hertfordshire anti-fraud team shares details of investigations to mark Fraud Awareness Week

To mark International Fraud Awareness week, Hertfordshire Shared Anti-Fraud Service has released details of some of its recent successes.

The Shared Anti-Fraud Service investigates acts of, or attempts to commit fraud against the county council, Hertfordshire’s district and borough councils as well as neighbouring local authorities.

Over the last 12 months the team has undertaken over 250 investigations, recovered £1.9 million in council tax fraud, detected over 100 instances of Blue Badge fraud, over 20 instances of education fraud and 20 relating to social care.

Earlier this year, a Hertfordshire man was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to pay the council £12,000 in legal costs after making a fraudulent claim for damage to his daughter’s car. Investigations showed Mr Collings had discussed the fraudulent claim with friends and analysis found the damage could not have been caused by a pothole as claimed.

In another case, a woman was ordered by the courts to repay over £5,000 after an investigation revealed she had remarried and moved to the Isle of Wight but failed to notify her landlord. This fraud cost taxpayers more than £42,000.

Council leader Richard Roberts said the authority is committed to ensuring public funds are used correctly for those in need.

“Where fraud is detected we’ll use every power available to bring the perpetrators to justice and recover as much as possible so that it can be redirected towards the services we know our residents and businesses want and need.”

Visit the anti-fraud service website Shared Anti-Fraud Service | Hertfordshire County Council for information.