A special needs teacher has spent almost a year trying to clear his name after a fraudulent universal credit claim was made using his identity, which has left him on the hook for hundreds of pounds in repayments.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has refused to acknowledge the fraud, even though Michael Bene has supplied evidence he was in the Scottish Highlands when the claimant attended a face-to-face verification interview in Cheshire.
Bene, 51, who lives in Birmingham, said the situation has “just turned my life into hell on earth,” as he has been forced to spend dozens of hours trying to prove his innocence, while making repayments towards the £763 “advance” paid out on the claim made in his name.
Bene, who has never claimed universal credit, said he first discovered the fraud almost a year ago, in October 2024, when he spotted a deduction on his wage slip. The only benefit he has ever claimed, he said, was a few months of Jobseekers’ Allowance more than 20 years ago.
He later found out that three claims had been made in his name over a six-week period in 2023; in West Surrey, Birmingham and Crewe. One of the fraudulent claims, made in Crewe, was successful, and with Bene now liable for repayments, he has sent more than 80 emails and made more than 150 phone calls trying to resolve the situation.
He reported the issue straight away and says he has already supplied the department with evidence he was in the Scottish Highlands at the time the claimant attended a face-to-face verification meeting in Crewe.
When he had allegedly attended a face-to-face meeting for one of the other fraudulent claims, he had been working at school all day, and the school provided a letter to verify this, he added.
When he raised the issue with his MP, Shabana Mahmood, Bene said the letter she received back from the DWP said the funds had been paid into a bank account in his name.
The letter claimed, Bene said, that: “I’d attended a face-to-face meeting to verify my identity, and that I brought my passport, my bank card and my utility bill, which clearly didn’t happen.”
Bene also said that often agents will refuse to speak to him because he does not know the answer to the security questions that the scammer set up on his account, which has created “a truly Kafkaesque barrier”.
“It’s just like going around in circles,” he said. “They will refuse to speak to me because they’re still using the details of the fraudulent claim and the two security questions that were created by the fraudulent claimant as the basis of their verification process; it’s comical.”
“So obviously, I don’t know the answer to those questions,” he added. “I mean, I know what the questions are, because I keep on asking, it’s ‘what colour was your first car?’ and ‘where did you go on your first holiday?’ I don’t even drive, I’ve never driven, so I don’t have a car.”
As well as involving his MP, Bene said, he has written to the information commissioner, and made 15 formal complaints to the DWP, but has still not seen a resolution.
He has been told he must now take the case to a tribunal to try to clear his name, but must continue to make the repayments, even while the case remains under appeal.
“I really can’t put into words the effect it’s had on my life,” Bene said. “I’ve broken down in tears quite a few times.” He said his shock when he received the decision review letter in March “was immeasurable”.
“I was so stressed and anxious I quite literally couldn’t process it,” he said. “Even then, I’d never have imagined that 11 months later it would still be ongoing.”
“We are aware of this case and are looking into it,” a DWP spokesperson said. “We have robust processes to detect fraudulent claims using a hijacked identity and support for anyone who thinks that they may have been a victim of identity fraud.
“Anyone receiving a debt recovery letter they believe relates to a fraudulent claim should contact us on 0800 916 0647.”
