TWO students who falsely claimed benefits while receiving loans have been prosecuted and told to pay the money back.
Gholamreza Abbaszadehmosaiiebi, 45, of Norton Road, Uxbridge, collected more than £6000 in housing and council tax benefit over nearly two years from September 2007 whilst receiving a student loan, but the scam was foiled after the National Fraud Initiative cross-checked his data.
In a joint investigation carried out by Hillingdon Council’s Corporate Fraud team and the Department for Work and Pensions, Mr Abbaszadehmosaiiebi was interviewed under caution and owned up to not declaring his student money on his benefit form.
He pleaded guilty to four charges of failing to notify Department Work Pensions of a change of circumstances, and was fined £250 in total, and told to pay £50 costs.
Quran Omar, 25, of Avondale Drive, Hayes, admitted to claiming income support and council benefits and failing to notify of her student loan between September 2008 and January 2010.
She was sentenced to a 12-month community punishment order and 100 hours unpaid work, and was ordered to pay £100 in costs.
They both appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates Court on September 19.
Garry Coote, Corporate Fraud manager at Hillingdon Council, said: "Failing to provide all the facts when filling out benefit claim forms could mean that you are committing fraud and that is a crime.
"We have many systems in place with other agencies, like the ones that detected these cases and anyone thinking of committing benefit fraud should be aware that we will catch them."
