Investigators will undertake operations during the campaign which will focus on all types of fraud affecting local authorities.
Kensington and Chelsea Council are proposing a month-long awareness campaign to tackle fraud in the borough, putting fraudsters on red alert.
Investigators will undertake operations during the campaign which will focus on all types of fraud affecting local authorities, including housing benefit fraud, blue badge fraud, council tax fraud and housing fraud.
Fraud investigators will work with the Peabody Housing Association, which manages over 4,500 properties in west London, to increase awareness of tenancy fraud which is reckoned to cost the taxpayer over £900 million a year.
Peabody, like many other housing associations, does not have a dedicated fraud unit, but will be given access to data and resources to investigate suspected fraud.
Peabody Director of Neighbourhoods, Joe Joseph, said: “This project will no doubt increase the detection of those that commit tenancy fraud and I hope make them feel less comfortable with their dishonesty.”
The council will trial toolkits produced by the National Fraud Authority to raise awareness of the work to combat fraud based on the central Government fraud awareness campaign `Spot it, Stop it’ and `Spot the Cheater’.
The toolkit will be eventually introduced nationally.
The campaign will also be run in two other boroughs, including Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham.
Anti-fraud teams from the three councils have over the past two years, recovered more than 200 social housing properties, prosecuted 130 people for fraud and uncovered benefit fraud worth more than £2 million.
A man and a woman were recently given a suspended sentence for making false statements in order to claim housing benefits they were not entitled to.
Raja Aboutarik, 57, and Frank Farkas, 67, of St Joseph’s Close were caught sub-letting properties while at times not being in the country.
Mrs Aboutarik, who claimed housing and disability benefit, is being ordered repay £13,053.33 for falsely claiming housing, whereas Mr Farkas has to repay £18,030.53 for not declaring true and correct financial circumstances.
Council Leader, Sir Merrick Cockell, said: “Fraud is a crime that we are all increasingly exposed to. We in the public sector take the issue of fraud very seriously. Every penny stolen by fraudsters is a penny less that we can spend on front line services to protect the most vulnerable in our society.”
Contact the Action Fraud hotline 0300 123 2040 for information or to report an incident.
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