The Algarve Resident SHOPPING EXERCISE: The British Government has launched a hotline in a bid to track down British benefit fraudsters living in Portugal. The move is aimed at catching expats claiming benefits they are not entitled to. Residents can report suspected British benefit thieves to a free-phone local number, 800 208 638 or online at www.dwp.gov.uk/benefit-thieves-portugal. Their concerns will be passed on to a team of investigators in the UK. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office estimate there are around 30,000 expats in Portugal and approximately 8,000 DWP customers in Portugal.

carvoeiro1 wrote:The Algarve Resident SHOPPING EXERCISE: The British Government has launched a hotline in a bid to track down British benefit fraudsters living in Portugal. The move is aimed at catching expats claiming benefits they are not entitled to. Residents can report suspected British benefit thieves to a free-phone local number, 800 208 638 or online at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/benefit-thieves-portugal. Their concerns will be passed on to a team of investigators in the UK. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office estimate there are around 30,000 expats in Portugal and approximately 8,000 DWP customers in Portugal.

EMM wrote:There is a report on the front page of the Belfast Telegraph that the government is to launch a " hot line " aimed at catching those who no longer reside in the UK yet still claim UK benefits (Those where UK residence or tax status is a legal requirement ).
Spain and Portugal were specifically mentioned.
I do not have a problem with this .

Yes we know and EMM doesn't have a problem with it

Why should anyone have a problem with those cheating the benefits system being caught.
Benefits should go to those in genuine need not cheats.

EMM wrote:Why should anyone have a problem with those cheating the benefits system being caught.
Benefits should go to those in genuine need not cheats.

Agreed

Stevie-C wrote:

EMM wrote:Why should anyone have a problem with those cheating the benefits system being caught.
Benefits should go to those in genuine need not cheats.

Agreed

So do I

Let's hope there is a hotline is set up for for cheating MPs too; they are the same as benefit cheats - stealing from the taxpayers.

It could called MP Watch ,MP an abbreviation for malingering parasites from a House of Common thieves.

If they were to raid Hemmingways, Safari Bar, they would find at least a dozen benerfit fraudters.

carvoeiro1 wrote:If they were to raid Hemmingways, Safari Bar, they would find at least a dozen benerfit fraudters.

Are you for real

Gary

Yep, because when there pissed they just cant help talking about how if ( the imigrants are intitiled to it so are they) and all they have to do is send a family member round the benerfits office every know and then and say there them. ( These twats are the ones who dont want ID cards, and you can see why)

There is no reason to believe that Carvoeiro does not have its quota of those seeking to gain at the expense of others or with a loose view of what they can or cannot get away with.
Many of us are familiar with the old UK reg cars ( some without tax ) that drive around the area and the bars the owners use.

EMM wrote:There is no reason to believe that Carvoeiro does not have its quota of those seeking to gain at the expense of others or with a loose view of what they can or cannot get away with.
Many of us are familiar with the old UK reg cars ( some without tax ) that drive around the area and the bars the owners use.

How do they get away with that??
The GNR seem to have roadblocks, specifically targetting UK and other foreign registered cars, checking paperwork, licence, tax MOT and UK insurance, and demanding to see your fiscal number as well.

When we go back this winter, we will need to carry evidence of when we left portugal to return the car to the UK, and probably evidence of our date of return to prove we have not broken the 6 month rule.

The GNR guy told us all this the last time we were checked, and that they were now running a database to check for people who were running non portuguese registered vehicles.

Maybe bluff.....but we were convinced

They get away with it until caught, I can show you a UK reg car dumped on an vacant building plot. On the same plot last year was a UK reg white van.
Cars tucked away out of site on driveways.
As ever its a significant minority who make life difficult for those who do follow the rules.
I am not sure if other nationalities are any better , they ( Germansand Dutch ) just seem to drive better carss.

first of all, hello Bruce, I see you're from Wroxham, I was there in the summer for the first time; had a ride around on the river boats, all very lovely. I brought some home brew back from Woodforde's brewery, the Wherry & Nelson's Revenge went straight into my top 5 all time bitters, great beers.

onto this car thing, I'm struggling to think why it's a preoccupation with so many people; I've just ordered a VW Golf in Portimao for my wife & kids to run around to school etc in, the cost is €26,850. On the Drive the Deal UK website the exact same spec car was priced up at £16,900, call that €18,500 at current exchange rates, a difference of €8,000!
It can be no surprise at all surely that so many residents drive around in foreign registered cars when the costs are so far apart. I'd have happily brought one from the UK but the wife worries that as she's at the school, tennis club so much that she might get stopped, fair enough.

I can understand that folk want to follow the 'rules' but I don't follow that when the rules themselves are illegal in the first place, according to EC law these cars shouldn't be this expensive in the first place so in my book what's good for the goose should be good for the gander.

Like a lot of people on here we drive around Europe a lot, it always astounds me how much a tank of diesel costs according to where you are, it can be €15 different.
I'm a fan of the EU and as such consider myself a citizen of Europe, we should all be able to live where we like, work where we like and a McDonalds hamburger should cost the same wherever you are, the system is as much at fault as the people that exploit it

Here we go again, the same old arguement , "Its the Portuguese who force me to drive my untaxed, uninsured No Mot UK reg car.".
What a load of crap. In the UK we expect and complain ( D MAIl, D EXpress ) if foreign residents do not adhere to our rules.
But for some Brits in Portugal " stuff " the laws of the country they are unfair, illegal.

Like it or not we have chosen Portugal as our home ( part or full time ) and should accept the conditions of being here.

All this rubbish about the EU is just a cover up for illegal behaviour.

I was informed by an ex-pat member of the forum about one particular person who was claiming disability benefit while in Portugal yet was doing bungee jumps for charity!