Abdulle/Jordan Saints and Scroungers

Saints and Scroungers puts the spotlight on benefit thieves,

people who steal millions of pounds every year from the British taxpayer.

But we also search out the saints,

people who help put unclaimed cash into the hands of those who really need it.

Saints and Scroungers is all about busting benefit thieves who steal millions every year

and the crack team of investigators

determined to scupper their devious scams.

We also shine a light on those who genuinely need the money

and the people who help them get it.

They are our saints.

The saints get help and the fraudsters get their comeuppance.

Coming up on today's show:

A fake asylum seeker who's not only fraudulently claiming benefits at home,

but also abroad using a dual identity.

All telephone calls made are recorded

and we can tell it was the same person.

And we meet the saints, a family whose lives are back on track

thanks to getting the right advice.

We sorted a few things out that they really urgently needed to be helped with.

Where would you be without her?

Rock bottom.

Every year around 25,000 people apply for asylum in the UK

and for those who are successful, there's help to start

a new life here with benefits paid for by the taxpayer.

So it's galling to say the least

when someone takes advantage of our generosity by abusing the system.

Meet Amina Muse.

This 40-year-old lady turned to the UK for help in June 2003,

asking for asylum for herself and her five kids.

The horrific story of her family's life back home in Somalia ensured she was granted asylum here in 2004.

This enabled her to claim a variety of benefits

from the Department for Work and Pensions, Camden Council, and her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

It's good to know that our welfare state is there

for people like Amina and her children in their hour of need.

Unfortunately, not everyone our country extends its generosity to

is quite what they seem.

Amina may have cheated us all out of more than a quarter of a million.

Steve Thompson is a fraud investigator for the Department for Work and Pensions.

In 2009, Amina's case landed on his desk.

We received a tip-off anonymously through our benefit fraud hotline.

The caller told us that not only was she claiming benefits

under the name of Amina Muse that we knew her as

but she also had a Swedish identity of Ayan Abdulle,

that she was also claiming benefits in that name in the United Kingdom,

but also she was claiming benefits in the name of Abdulle in Sweden for herself and her children.

Whoever this anonymous caller was,

they weren't shy about dishing the dirt on Amina.

The accusations kept coming.

The information we got was quite detailed.

For example, it gave us

the different names of the different children.

It gave us details of bank accounts in Sweden.

It also gave us national insurance numbers, dates of birth,

which led us to believe there was a lot in this fraud allegation.

In fact, the information was so detailed

it could only have been a family member

or close friend who was making these accusations against Amina.

Steve and his team start pulling together everything they can

relating to Amina Muse's case.

She didn't arrive on a plane and make a claim for asylum at an airport.

She walked into an immigration office in London

and said she had been dropped off in London by an agent from Kenya

and that she wanted to claim asylum for herself and her children.

The reason for her claim to asylum in the UK

doesn't make for easy listening.

The story that she told to the immigration authorities

was that her niece had been raped in front of her,

that herself had been gang raped

and one of her brothers had been killed in front of her.

It was quite a horrific tale that she told

and also she feared persecution if she returned to Somalia.

Despite the horrendous but plausible story behind her asylum application,

it was originally turned down.

But after an appeal, Amina and her kids

were allowed to stay in the UK.

When someone claims asylum and are granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom,

then they can claim social security benefits.

The first benefit she claimed was her income support for herself and her children,

housing benefit to pay her rent,

child benefit for her children, disability living allowance.

She made a claim as a carer for her son.

Tax credits for herself and her children. So in all she was receiving six benefits.

Fair enough, if Amina's story's legit.

But now Steve has the job of working out whether there's any truth

to the allegations that Amina Muse is using another identity,

that of Ayan Abdulle,

with which to claim yet more benefits in both the UK and Sweden.

The first thing I did was I obtained the claim forms

in both identities from Muse and Abdulle

and could see that we had current claims by both identities

with their children.

So, let's do the maths.

That's two times six loads of different benefits.

I think you can work out the rest.

At this stage of the investigation, these are still allegations,

and Ayan Abdulle could be a completely different person.

Steve gets down to the nitty-gritty, and looks into the background of Abdulle,

who the anonymous tip-off had said was originally from Sweden.

Ayan Abdulle was able to claim benefits in the United Kingdom

cos she had Swedish identity documents,

she's a European citizen,

so she was able to claim for herself and her children.

She was able to provide passports for herself

and her children to satisfy us that she was a Swedish citizen.

She also had to pass a test to prove that she lived in the United Kingdom,

which she did, so she was awarded these benefits.

Once again, like the asylum claim in the name of Amina Muse,

Abdulle's arrival from Sweden could be above board,

as long as they're two different people.

Steve uses a tried and tested method to discover the truth

and get a definitive answer on Amina and Abdulle.

Telephone calls made to the Department for Work and Pensions

and Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs

are recorded in certain circumstances,

so I was able to get those telephone calls for both identities

and listen to them, and we can tell that it was the same person

making the telephone calls in both different names.

This is the strongest lead so far

that the allegations against Amina Muse, AKA Ayan Abdulle, are real.

But the team knows they will need more evidence to sort this potential scrounger out.

All the claim forms were sent to a handwriting expert,

so the Department's claim forms,

the forms from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs,

the claim forms from Camden council

were sent to this handwriting expert who could tell me

that the handwriting for both sets of identities was written by one person.

So, phone calls from Muse and Abdulle were made by the same person,

and claim forms submitted by them were completed by one person.

Fishy or what? But that's not all.

So we obtained bank account details for Mrs Muse and for Abdulle

and we can tell, for example, Amina Muse was consistently using

Brecknock post office in Camden,

and then when I checked the same bank accounts for Abdulle,

I could see on the same day that she was also using the same post office

and withdrawing her benefits at the same time.

And, as if that wasn't enough...

From the bank accounts for Ayan Abdulle,

I can also see that she was buying items

off these TV stations that sell over air,

and when I contacted them, they could tell me

that the items purchased in the name of Abdulle

were actually being delivered to the address of Amina Muse.

It's all pretty damning stuff,

and the bank statements revealed yet another layer

to this scrounger's scam -

flights to and from Sweden.

Steve decides it's time this case went international.

For now, it's farewell to the fraudsters and hello to the people we call our saints,

those in genuine need of help but are too proud

or don't know how to claim what is rightfully theirs,

and the people who point them in the right direction.

When a loved one dies, it's devastating,

and probably the last thing on your mind at that time

will be how are you going to pay the next bill?

Dorothea Jordan was left widowed

with her six children after Andrew, her husband of 27 years,

passed away from cancer back in 2010.

As the sole bread-winner of the family, Andrew's untimely death

threw the family not only into emotional, but also financial chaos.

I've come to Peterborough to meet Dorothea

to hear about the challenges she's been facing.

-Are you Dorothea?

-I am, Dom.

-Good to meet you.

-Is it OK if I come in?

-Yes.

-Smashing.

Dorothea lives in the home she and Andrew owned together,

and it's full to the brim with all creatures great and small.

-You have got a full life at the moment, haven't you?

-Yes.

-How many chickens you got?

-I've got nine chickens.

-How many cats you got?

-Six cats.

-And how many kids?

-Six children.

So from the moment you get up till you go to bed,

-it's flat out, isn't it?

-It certainly is.

Andrew, of course, was the breadwinner.

-He was the person bringing home the wages, wasn't he?

-Yes, he was.

Obviously he was on sick pay for a while from his job.

But how long was it before money became really tight?

Money started getting tight within about three months.

-OK. And how tight did it get?

-It got really tight.

It got to the point that we would wonder how were we going to pay for things.

Even though he was entitled to carer's allowance and DLA, he wasn't claiming it?

He didn't want to claim.

He felt too proud to claim it.

Even though he was dying and money was very, very tight?

Even when money was really tight,

he said, "We'll try to live on what we've got".

Eventually, Andrew did put in a claim,

but he'd left it so long, the family received only minimal benefits

in the period before his death.

In desperation, Dorothea's eldest child Alex moved back home

to try to help financially

but their only income was this wage and Andrew's pension.

What compounded the problem

was that this was a family already in need of help.

Two of the children suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,

a behavioural disorder combining hyperactivity

and poor concentration, known as ADHD for short.

when Michael started school, were told by his teacher that he had ADHD.

They thought because Michael had it,

they decided to test Jamie too to be on the safe side.

And they tested him and said, "Oh, yes, he's got it too."

After Andrew's death, Jamie's school contacted Dorothea.

His behaviour was becoming unmanageable.

Extremely close to his father,

the loss had understandably hit Jamie hard.

The school suggested sending him to a new youth club

that had opened up, run by the Papworth Trust.

We've been running in Peterborough for just over a year now.

We started up in August last year to work with young people who

had disabilities or who had issues around just being a teenager, really.

Linda and the Fun United team encourage a range of activities

and interests with the teenagers.

Everything from drama to beatboxing and street dancing.

But Jamie was about to suggest something a little more

conservative and green fingered.

'Although I knew that Jamie was'

a keen gardener, we hadn't discussed it much.

We talked about his chickens and bits and bobs that he did at home.

So I thought, how can we do something about that? What is it we can do?

So I approached the church where we're based

and they very kindly offered to give us a piece of their own land

and to let us do pretty much whatever we wanted with it.

-£9.98.

-You can afford another one of them.

-Yeah, £10.

-We are going to need another big tub like, aren't we?

-Yeah.

What's been great about that is, not only has Jamie been able to

use his gardening skills to benefit the other young people in the club,

but actually he's been teaching the other young people as well

how to actually do this for themselves.

Where shall I put this?

He's taught me what type of plants there is,

how to use the shovels and how many times you need to water them.

That sort of stuff.

With a new project and new friends,

young Jamie's confidence has now gone from strength to strength.

What's so lovely to see is this young man

actually taking other people under his wing.

Linda was amazed at his progress

but was also amazed to hear how bad things had got

with the family's finances.

Dorothea's a very proud lady and they are a very hard-working family

and very determined to be independent themselves.

But it became clear that this was actually becoming quite a struggle

when she was explaining about having to turn her water off,

and things like that, that really sent huge red lights flashing for me.

I suppose the best way I could approach it to her was to say,

you know, your husband has worked hard all of his life,

and has provided for his family so they hadn't had to claim before.

But he'd paid tax. Therefore, that family were entitled

to actually still be supported by their father,

by claiming the benefits that they need in order to get through each day.

So I got in touch with the Citizens Advice Bureau, to my colleague

'over there, who was more than happy to meet with the family.

'I explained the situation, and he was more than happy to meet with them'

and offer them advice, and actually sort a few things out for them

that they were urgently needing to be helped with.

-What were you entitled to?

-The widow benefit, which is a lump sum.

And a higher rate of the child tax credit.

Plus, I also get help with the council tax, to be lower down, too.

-So that's keeping your head above water now, is it?

-Yes.

I just wish I'd claimed for those things a bit sooner.

How much of a help has Linda been?

Help?

In every way.

Helping, like, Jamie, the family.

Where would you be without her?

Rock bottom.

And that was the last thing this hard-working, proud family deserved.

And thank goodness they're now steadily getting back on their feet.

'I think it's high time I spoke to the man of the moment, Jamie.

'And guess where I find him.'

Hello, Jamie. How you doing? Nice to meet you.

Now who's built this garden? Because I've got to say, it's pretty good!

I did.

When I'm older, I want to join a gardening business,

as an apprentice.

Before you went to this youth club, what was life like?

Well, I was, um, down in the dumps.

Linda's going to be watching this, so what would you like to say to her?

Thank you for trying to make me laugh,

and thank you for getting me out of the dumps.

You've been out of the dumps for a while now. You a happy chappie?

-Mm-hm.

-Do you want me to clear off and let you get on?

-Yeah, please.

-Nice to meet you, Jamie, you look after yourself, mate.

-Yeah.

It just goes to show, people with their hearts in the right place,

combined with benefits being used in the right way,

can go a long way to changing people's lives for the better.

Now it's back to the world of the scroungers.

In 2009, DWP investigators received an anonymous tip-off

about a Somali asylum seeker called Amina Muse,

who came to live in London in 2004. The caller alleged Amina

was using two identities to claim multiple benefits,

for herself and her five children. But that wasn't all.

She also had a Swedish identity of Ayan Abdulle

that she was also claiming benefits in that name in the United Kingdom,

but also, she was claiming benefits in the name of Abdulle in Sweden for herself and the children.

DWP fraud investigator Steve Thompson

set about trying to unravel this complex case.

The evidence against Amina Muse

and her alter ego Ayan Abdulle

came thick and fast,

and was pretty damning stuff.

All telephone calls made are recorded,

and we can tell it was the same person.

The handwriting for both sets of identities was written by one person,

the items purchased in the name of Abdulle were actually being delivered to the address of Amina Muse.

Steve now believes Amina and Abdulle are indeed the same person,

and the benefit fraud

could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

He decides the case against her has to go international.

The accusation that she's still also claiming benefits in Sweden needs to be cleared up.

Her bank accounts showed that there were some flights to Sweden,

and also, we were able to contact the authorities in Sweden

that gave us details when they had actually visited her in Sweden,

so we knew that she was flying between London and Sweden.

By talking to the Swedish authorities,

the team discovers Ayan Abdulle is indeed claiming benefits there as well.

The flights discovered on her UK bank statements matched up to the dates

when the Swedish benefits officials had visited her

at her address in their country.

But the evidence doesn't stop there.

When my colleague contacted the authorities in Sweden,

he was able to obtain copies of the Swedish passports for Ayan Abdulle and her children.

These obviously included photographs,

which we was able to match with the photographs that were held

on her asylum applications in the United Kingdom.

And those photos in the asylum application were,

you guessed it, made under the name Amina Muse.

The Swedes also confirmed she now owes them

around £50,000 in falsely claimed benefits.

Would you Adam and Eve it?

Muse and Abdulle are one and the same person,

and this scrounger has been stealing from the public purse in two countries at the same time.

The nerve of it!

After months of investigation,

the team was confident they had enough evidence

to put a stop to this scammer's six-year benefit fraud bonanza.

On 12 May 2010,

the DWP and police get ready to raid the London home of Amina Muse.

We went to Amina Muse's house, with the police,

and we had a search warrant that was issued by the court.

We went into the house.

And then we started to search the house for documents.

Steve was looking for hard evidence of Amina's dual identities.

But what he found first was hardly the home of a refugee

who had fled her country with nothing.

The house had five bedrooms, two bathrooms,

two living rooms, and a kitchen downstairs.

The house was fairly well furnished.

And there was lots of um, PlayStations, um...

there was TVs in most of the bedrooms.

We found a lot of clothes and jewellery for Mrs Muse.

I got the impression, from looking round the house,

that she was living a lifestyle beyond the means of someone on benefits.

And it didn't take long for the team to find evidence

of how Amina Muse was able to afford this lifestyle.

Most of the documents were found upstairs in the bedroom.

They were hidden in plastic bags,

hidden down the side of the beds.

We found a number of passports from Sweden for the children,

in the name of Abdulle.

We found a Swedish identity card

in the name of Ayan Abdulle,

we found documents from Sweden

from the Social Security office in Sweden,

and we also found a number of documents for the false claims

that she'd made in the name of Abdulle in the United Kingdom.

We found lots of documents

for Ayan Abdulle in the house for Amina Muse.

And of course, we wouldn't expect to find those documents unless they were the same person.

Muse was arrested and taken for interview,

her six-year scam finally at its end.

Despite the overwhelming evidence against her,

this scrounger stood her ground.

In her interview under caution,

she mainly went "No comment" to the questions that we asked her.

But she did maintain throughout her interview that her true identity

was Amina Muse.

She also stated, or alleged, that her husband and another woman

were trying to plant evidence on her to get her deported.

Yet another lie to add to the list.

Steve and his colleagues had worked out that Amina Muse and her alias Ayan Abdulle

have cheated the British taxpayer to the tune of £216,000

in false benefit claims.

On top of that, there's also approximately £50,000 owed to the Swedish government

for the claims she made there at the same time as claiming in the UK.

In January 2011, Muse faced the courts.

Amina Muse was charged with 23 offences

of making false claims to benefits,

and she pleaded not guilty to all those charges.

She was being charged under what the prosecution believed to be

her real name.

The name she'd come from Sweden with, Ayan Abdulle.

During the ten-day trial, she tried everything to shift the blame from herself.

During the trial, Amine Muse slightly changed her story,

then she made further false allegations against myself,

saying that I was also involved in planting documents in her house, with her husband.

Yet another lie to add to a very long list,

but there was more to come.

Despite the overwhelming evidence against her,

Ayan Abdulle refused to acknowledge this name as her real identity.

She maintained throughout that she was Amine Muse, a refugee from Somalia.

It was this side of her defence that angered Steve the most,

as the prosecution were to prove

that her story of rape and persecution in Somalia was fake.

We was able to obtain from Sweden the birth records for Ayan Abdulle,

which showed she was actually in hospital having a baby

at the same time that she said she was being raped in Somalia.

It was quite horrific that she was using these stories,

these atrocities that allegedly happened to her in Somalia,

to cynically exploit the asylum system in the United Kingdom to obtain benefits.

Bearing in mind that there are many genuine asylum seekers

who have genuinely faced these atrocities in their own countries.

No matter what lie still spilled from Ayan Abdulle's lips,

her scrounging ways had caught up with her.

The jury took just two hours to find her guilty

of all 23 charges against her.

The judge sentenced Ayan Abdulle in the name of Ayan Abdulle,

because he accepted, along with the jury,

that that was her real identity.

He sent her to jail for four and a half years.

I was very pleased with that result. That's one of the longest jail sentences

the Department of Work and Pensions has achieved

in one of their investigations.

Ayan Abdulle actually stole £261,000.

This is one of the largest amounts of fraud

that I've had to deal with in my career.

This scrounger thought she could play the system.

She traded on our sympathy and our generosity,

and the misfortunes of genuine asylum seekers.

But someone, somewhere, blew the whistle on her.

And thanks to fraud investigators,

the long arm of the law brought her down.

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