Council to befriend benefit cheats on Facebook

Fraudsters around the country have already been exposed with 'single mothers' posting pictures of their weddings and 'disabled' claimants walking freely on the Great Wall of China.

Now cheats in a Cannock have been warned after council bosses became the latest to sanction the move.

Cabinet members at Cannock Chase Council nodded through the changes to the authority's Surveillance Policy which included a new section on how regulatory staff can take advantage of social media to snoop on those they suspected were making fraudulent claims.

As well as benefit cheats the practice could also be used to weed out illegal traders and fly-tippers.

Council solicitor Alastair Welsh, said: "The increased use of social media means that certain information on individuals can now be found on social media sites and applications such as Facebook.

"Much of this information is publicly available - anyone can access it through the internet - however, some information can only be obtained by passing through certain privacy controls such as requesting to be an individual's 'friend' on the site.

"The policy has been amended to inform officers as to when such circumstances may be classed as covert operations and require authorisation."

The report goes on to say that where it is 'necessary' and 'proportionate' council officers can use a fake identity and issue a friend request to someone under investigation.

Although they can only do that once all less intrusive options have been ruled out and a District Judge or magistrate has signed off on the move.

Council leader George Adamson said: "This was part of a general update to the policy. As a council we would obviously use it as little as possible when we think there is some sort of offence.

"Social media is far more important than it was five years ago and we have had to update our systems appropriately."

South Staffordshire Council already has this power as policy but legal chief David Pattison said it had not been used in three years and stressed it was a last resort.

In April last year a Northumberland woman was ordered to pay back £35,000 in fraudulent disability benefits after she posted a picture of herself standing on the Great Wall of China despite claiming she could not walk further than the length of a car.

A month later a woman in Exeter claiming to be a 'single mother' as part of a ruse to swindle £65,000 in benefits was caught out because her Facebook page said she was married.

Another mother in Coventry was outed in November when she posted pictures of her wedding online despite illegally pocketing nearly £60,000 over nine years declaring herself as a 'single mother-of-three'.