Watch: £50m benefit fraud gang shower floor with taxpayer money after milking system 'like a cash machine'

Footage from a seized mobile phone shows the fraudsters showering their flat with hundreds of £20 notes. The organised crime gang falsely claimed more than £50 million of Universal Credit, in the largest benefit fraud ever in the UK.

Hijacked identities

Wood Green Crown Court heard how over a four-and-a-half-year period, between October 2016 and May 2021, the organised crime group made thousands of false claims for Universal Credit using either real people or hijacked identities.

Forged documents

These claims were supported by an array of forged documents, including fictitious tenancy agreements, counterfeit payslips and forged letters from landlords, employers, and GPs. If the claims were rejected, the fraudsters would try again and again until they were granted. The investigation identified three ‘benefit factories’ in London where repeated false claims for benefits originated from.

Benefit fraud gang plead guilty

Galina Nikolova, 38, Stoyan Stoyanov, 27, Tsvetka Todorova, 52, Gyunesh Ali, 33, and Patritsia Paneva, 26 all pleaded guilty when they appeared before Wood Green Crown Court on Tuesday (9 April). They will be sentenced on 28 May.