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Wednesday, May 6, 2026

The Photoshop FAILS among £8.5BN of bogus benefit claims: How people are sending faked images to DWP - Daily Mail

A series of photoshop fails are part of a multi-million pound benefits scam as fraudsters are sending faked images to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in a bid to make money.

One man was asked to take a photograph of himself by his front door after the DWP became suspicious that he was claiming benefits in the UK while living abroad.

After receiving the picture, it was clear he had been crudely photoshopped into the scene.

Alongside a fairly obvious digital cutout around his outline, a Google Street View camera was visible in the reflection of the car outside.

But this image is just one example of the thousands of counterfeit documents that flooded into the DWP during the pandemic, as fraud flew out of control.

Some photographs sent to the DWP are clearly doctored, as people claimed benefits in the UK while living abroad. The people shown in the images may be innocent and have no connection to the actual claim

People crudely photoshopped themselves into the scene in order to claim the benefits

The Times was given exclusive access to the DWP's counterfraud regional office in Newcastle, where digital forensic analysts and investigators combat bogus claims, reaching 8.5 billion last year.

The number of people needing support through benefits increased massively when the pandemic first hit the UK, but so did the number of fraudulent claims - partly driven by gangs seeking to exploit a relaxation of the rules on applications.

The DWP swiftly set up an enhanced review...



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