Edinburgh Businessman's Benefit Fraud

Dundee Sheriff Court

An Edinburgh businessman has admitted collecting identity details from people he deceived into applying for fake jobs at a Glasgow hotel as part of a benefit fraud scheme.

Per the BBC last week, Dundee Sheriff Court heard Rory McWhirter admitted using the details to obtain their marriage certificates before using them to register 26 non-existent babies.

McWhirter then used the birth certificates to claim benefits, claiming tax credits of £14,222, child benefits of £19,658 and a Sure Start maternity grant of £500.

The court heard McWhirter presented letters to registrars at offices throughout Scotland, purporting to be from doctors confirming the births of children at home, while acting as though he was the male named on these certificates.

The court also heard four of the names used as claimants were traced and they advised they didn't make the claims, though all had applied for the same job for front-of-house staff in an ad requiring a CV and National Insurance number at a four-star hotel in Glasgow advertised on Gumtree on March 2015.

The court heard it was subsequently discovered that 14 claims for tax credits had been made by persons residing in Perth Road, Dundee, and in Campbeltown at flats related to McWhirter’s company.

McWhirter was caught, the court heard, after he was recognised by staff when returned to Aberdeen registry office – the scene of one of his early false birth registrations.

Suspicions were also raised at around the same time when an ‘organised attack’ on HMRC's computer systems showing around 350 requests had been received for tax credit application forms from an address in Dundee and others in Campbeltown linked to McWhirter.

McWhirter admitted a charge of fraud committed between 1 June 2014 and 22 October 2015 at addresses across Scotland. He will be sentenced on 21 March.