Watch West Midlands benefits cheats caught on camera

It is the blight on society that costs the taxpayer millions of pounds every year – but today investigators warned they are getting tougher than ever before on benefits cheats.

Around 4,000 people across Staffordshire and the Black Country are being probed by experts charged with clamping down on those who make bogus claims or are paid more cash than they are entitled to.

In some cases, investigators are able to deploy covert surveillance tactics to monitor the movements of those believed to be on the take.

Today, the Department for Work & Pensions released exclusive footage to the Express & Star to show just how brazen and bogus some of the claims made by benefits cheats can be. In one, a man can be seen clambering to the top of a ladder in Lye, Stourbridge, despite telling the authorities he could barely walk while in another, a man was videoed climbing on top of a skip hire van.

He claimed that he was so ill he could not walk without the aid of two walking sticks.

Last year, there were more than 2,000 criminal cases prosecuted in central England, which includes the West Midlands.

There were a further 5,300 cautions or penalties imposed as well, with the total overpayment hitting about £40m.

But financial experts working for the Department for the Work & Pensions are using powerful Proceeds of Crime Act powers to recover money that has been stolen by cheats.

Figures released to the Express & Star have revealed that specialists from the department's Fraud Investigation Unit clawed back £9.5m last year.

Among those rumbled using the legislation was Wolverhampton care worker Harminder Bisla, who was overpaid almost £47,000 in benefits after lying about living with her husband.

She fraudulently claimed income support and council tax benefit for five years.

The 34-year-old, of Green Lane in Aldersley, stated on forms that she was living alone with her two children, when in fact her estranged husband Jasbir had moved back in with her.

She was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 160 hours of unpaid work when she appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

But following her conviction, investigators sought a confiscation order and she was told by a judge to pay back £40,000 within six months or face going to jail.

Meanwhile, a 54-year-old Halesowen father of three who fiddled over £45,000 in benefits has also been forced to pay back £43,000 or face prison.

Robert Young failed to notify the Department of Work & Pensions his wife was working for a market research firm. As a result, over an 11-year period, Young illegally picked up £45,332 in income support and council tax benefits.

Young, of Howley Grange Road, admitted three charges of benefit fraud and he was given a 32 week jail term suspended for 18 months.

But again, Proceeds of Crime Act legislation was enforced so the money could be recovered as quickly as possible.

Mark Pickering, who heads up an investigation team, said: "What is often seen in the headlines is an overpayment for which we seek recovery but sometimes shows this to be a low rate of recovery in comparison to the amount of the overpayment."

Tracey Evans, head of a financial investigation team, added: "What is not often pointed out is that we have our own Financial Investigation Unit which seeks to recover the overpayments.

Investigators are doing more than ever before to get back the money pocketed by benefits fraudsters.

Anyone with information about benefits crime is asked to contact the hotline number on 0800 854440 or visit www.direct.gov.uk