A 77-year-old Dundee woman faces jail after she admitted fleecing more than £18,000 in benefits while living in South Africa.
Elizabeth Anderson told benefits bosses she lived on a small pension at her home in Machrie Place. As a result she qualified for pension credit, designed to top up the income of pensioners surviving on less than £145.50 a week.
In reality Anderson was living in South Africa, returning home twice a year, and had more than £145,000 in savings and investments. Her scheme was uncovered after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) received an anonymous tip-off.
When she was interviewed by fraud investigators, Anderson said she believed she qualified for benefits because “all her friends got it”.
Sheriff Tom Hughes warned the pensioner, who is in poor health and walks with a frame, that she was on “custodial territory” and ordered her to appear in person on May 31.
Depute fiscal Bill Kermode said: “She made a claim on March 31 2004 and said she only had £3,232 in the bank, had no other properties, was retired and lived on a pension.
“On May 9 2011 the DWP received an anonymous allegation Anderson had lived in South Africa for over 30 years and only returned home once or twice a year.
“In October 2011 an account in her name was found with over £45,000 when it was closed and transferred to another bank account. Another account, where the funds were transferred to, showed a balance of £78,620.23.
“A further joint account was found with a balance of over £68,000. Checks were made with the Passport Agency and showed her last two passports issued in the UK were sent to Pretoria, South Africa.”
Anderson pleaded guilty to a summary complaint that between April 27 2004 and April 9 2012, at Machrie Place, she failed to report having substantial savings or investments over the required limit and obtained £18,636.42 of pension credit to which she was not entitled.