A male foreign national has been jailed for four years, with the final three years suspended, after he falsely obtained €17,926 in Social Welfare Benefits under a deceased man’s name. Ukrainian national Mr Oleh Toropov, who held an address at Ormond Street, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, entered Ireland originally under the name of a deceased Latvian man and proceeded to obtain work during a four years period, while paying tax under the same assumed name.
Having lost employment at a meat-processing firm and at a construction firm in 2012, Mr Toropov continued to use the dead man’s name to obtain social welfare payments including rent allowance.
Nenagh Circuit Court heard that Mr Toropov obtained a PPS number, which allowed him to fraudulently claim the payments, before being found out by a Special Investigations Unit attached to the Department of Social Protection here in Thurles, latter who, satisfied that a fraud had been committed, had notified Gardaí.
According to Garda evidence Nenagh Circuit Court heard that the Ukrainian had falsely claimed €7,344.50 in Jobseeker’s Benefit, €10,070 in Jobseeker’s Allowance, together with €512 in Rent Allowance. Polish, Russian, Romanian and Ukrainian passports were also found while searching his address, prior to his arrest.
Detective Garda Declan O’Carroll accepted in court that Mr Toropov had worked and paid all due taxes for the four previous years in question and also accepted he was sending money home to support family members.
I’d say there are many more.