By Andy McCue, 2 December 2005 15:35
NEWS
Criminals have stolen the identities of 1,500 Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) staff and used them to make fraudulent claims on the government's tax credits website.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been forced to close the tax credit e-portal down while it develops new checks to ensure the system is secure.The fraud came to light during compliance checks by HMRC and a criminal investigation is now underway into how the 1,500 DWP staff had their identities stolen.
A spokeswoman for the DWP said "all options" are being investigated when asked if insiders were involved in the scam.
The DWP and HMRC said they are carrying out an in-depth investigation into how the fraud happened and to identify and correct the records affected.
A spokeswoman for HMRC said: "We take fraud very seriously and we have taken swift action. We are looking to reinstate the e-portal as soon as possible."
HMRC is also setting up a helpline for any DWP staff who think they might be victims of the tax credit fraud.
Comments
There are 5 comments. Join the discussion
1. Ruth
.... and they expect us to trust them over the security of id cards!!!!!!!!
2. Simon
And I suppose this will be the next thing that will magically be stopped by ID cards !
3. anonymous
Well, well, well, what a non-surprise.
As it has now come to light that the government intend to sell details from the ID card database, apparently to commercial companies. Basically sell them to anyone that asks & perhaps pays. Including criminals & terrorists.
Coupled with the recent discovery were selling the personal details of vehicle owners to various companies & individual, some of whom are reported as being known criminals...............!
Scary, more than somewhat!!!!!!!!!!!!
4. a.non
i work for the dwp and know many staff in my office that have had their personal information used to set up false claims. we have not been given a dedicated helpline, we have had to go through to the general enquiry line. we were not encouraged by the dept to phone and find out if our information has been used, we were given little information and only found out the scale of the problem through our own intervention.
5. anonymous
I'm affected, as are hundreds of my colleagues in my office. I am disgusted that such an incident can occur, given that protection of customer information is drilled into us constantly. I spend a great deal of time protecting myself from identity fraud when I'm at home, shredding personal docuements, etc. only to find out that my NINO, DOB, name & address & possibly bank details are now in the hands of fraudsters. God only knows how far these details have been sold on.