Scots benefits cheat stole £20k pretending to be dead dad for two years

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Scottish fraudster stole more than £20,000 in benefits by pretending to be his dead father for more than two years. Conman Hassan Mirza, 39, posed as his 72-year-old father to dupe the benefits agency as well as Dundee City Council.

He pretended to be his late father Abdul Majid Mirza to claim benefits more than three years after the pensioner had passed away.

Mirza, Cowgate, Dundee, admitted two charges of fraud when he appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court and sentence was deferred for reports.

Mirza, who was granted bail, admitted that between March 6, 2017 and June 13, 2019 he obtained £19,429.36 by fraud from the Department of Work and Pensions.He admitted pretending, at the News Centre in Strathmartine Road, Dundee, to the DWP that he had Power of Attorney over his father's financial affairs.He claimed that he was authorised to make benefit claims for Mr Mirza snr and claimed that he was his father, who had passed away on February 8, 2014.Mirza admitted inducing the agency to award nearly £20,000 in pension credit to his own bank account and to an account in the name of his father.He also admitted pretending to be his father to Dundee City Council to con them into paying him £2,535.68 in housing benefit between March 6 and October 15, 2017.Fiscal depute Kate Scarborough told the court that Mirza had no previous convictions and that the Crown was lodging a Proceeds of Crime action against him.Sentence was deferred for the preparation of criminal justice social work reports and a restriction of liberty order assessment. Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here . Hitmen boast about Glasgow shooting in chilling gangster rap TikTok video Scot paralysed from