Hello all
I received a letter last week in on official looking envelope. It's purportedly from the Department of Work and Pensions. It states 'Our records show that you owe £398.14 to us'.
Now, I'm not in receipt of any benefits. I started making a Universal Credit claim a couple of years ago - a relative had told me that the government would help new businesses so I applied, discovered that I would be eligible for the square root of next to nothing, and cancelled the claim. No payments were ever made to me.
I don't receive any other benefit - Tax Credits ceased a few years ago. I've tried phoning the number on the letter but - surprise surprise - I can't talk to anyone about the demand, I can only get through to an automated payment system.
(Sorry for the long post)
The letter is dated 17.11.2020 but I received it just a few days ago - end of Nov, at the earliest. Apparently, if I fail to contact them about repayment by 8/12/20 my employer will be contacted and a debt collection agency will be put on the case.
I've looked at the benefits website - no help, spoke to the Universal Credit people, they tell me I don't owe anything. I spent 45 minutes waiting for the Tax Credits 'help' line before giving up.
Does anyone have any advice? I know it's not a fortune but I'm very suspicious. The DWP logo is on the letter but it looks a little bit photocopied to me. I've looked up about benefit fraud but usually it seems to happen by email or text.
I'd be really interested to hear what people might think. Identity theft is a real phenomenon, no?
Thanks for reading this far and if I've left out anything obvious and salient please ask.
Cheers!
Jim
I received a letter last week in on official looking envelope. It's purportedly from the Department of Work and Pensions. It states 'Our records show that you owe £398.14 to us'.
Now, I'm not in receipt of any benefits. I started making a Universal Credit claim a couple of years ago - a relative had told me that the government would help new businesses so I applied, discovered that I would be eligible for the square root of next to nothing, and cancelled the claim. No payments were ever made to me.
I don't receive any other benefit - Tax Credits ceased a few years ago. I've tried phoning the number on the letter but - surprise surprise - I can't talk to anyone about the demand, I can only get through to an automated payment system.
(Sorry for the long post)
The letter is dated 17.11.2020 but I received it just a few days ago - end of Nov, at the earliest. Apparently, if I fail to contact them about repayment by 8/12/20 my employer will be contacted and a debt collection agency will be put on the case.
I've looked at the benefits website - no help, spoke to the Universal Credit people, they tell me I don't owe anything. I spent 45 minutes waiting for the Tax Credits 'help' line before giving up.
Does anyone have any advice? I know it's not a fortune but I'm very suspicious. The DWP logo is on the letter but it looks a little bit photocopied to me. I've looked up about benefit fraud but usually it seems to happen by email or text.
I'd be really interested to hear what people might think. Identity theft is a real phenomenon, no?
Thanks for reading this far and if I've left out anything obvious and salient please ask.
Cheers!
Jim