The benefits system is there to protect the most vulnerable people in society. So when criminals are caught abusing the process for their own gain, their behaviour is often met with a jail sentence by judges.
The M.E.N. has previously reported on cases of benefit fraud which have cost the taxpayer significant amounts of money. Here are some of the benefit cheats we have exposed.
It was a scandal that could have cost the taxpayer up to £2 million, a judge said. Ringleaders Mohamed Goth, 66, and Feisal Aw-Isse Sadi, 43, led a scam in which women pretended to be cleaners at schools in order to claim benefits they weren't entitled to.
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