[size=14pt]The Nigerian who stole 350 IDs to claim £1.3m benefits[/size]

By Rebecca Camber
Last updated at 1:07 AM on 24th February 2011



Scam: Olaide Taiwo at his London home

A Nigerian immigrant stole the identities of 350 people to claim £1.3million in bogus tax credits in the largest benefit scam of its kind.

Olaide Taiwo, 35, hijacked the identities while working as a security guard for a number of large national companies.

He then used the names to claim tens of thousands in working tax credits.

This week he was jailed for eight and a half years – the highest ever sentence for tax credit fraud.

Taiwo is understood to have arrived illegally in Britain in 2003 with his wife. Although three applications to stay in the UK failed, in 2005 he was granted discretionary leave to remain.

It was during this period that his scam began. The father-of-two submitted more than 300 fraudulent tax credit claims between June 2004 and July 2008 worth over £1million.

When he was arrested, investigators found an ‘identity thieves’ paradise’, with stacks of fake passports and driving licences and £70,000 in cash lying around his council flat in Camberwell, South-East London.

The property was littered with paperwork detailing the names, addresses and national insurance numbers of hundreds of people which he had taken from employee payroll records at dozens of companies around London where he had worked as a security guard.

They also found templates for making false passports, birth certificates, NHS cards and driving licences.

Taiwo used the identities to open hundreds of bank accounts for the benefits to be paid into, but HM Revenue & Customs became suspicious about the multiple tax credit applications and arrested him in July 2008.

They believe he was the ringleader of an organised criminal network which included his sister-in-law who worked for a job centre.

But the rest of the gang are thought to have fled to Nigeria. Taiwo also tried to leave the country but he was arrested again on August 6 last year.

He was found guilty at Inner London Crown Court of fraudulently obtaining payments of tax credits, by using the names and addresses of individuals without their consent and acquiring criminal property.

Sentencing him, Judge Simon Davis ordered that he be deported at the end of his eight and a half year sentence.

He said: ‘This is a fraud on a substantial scale.

‘You lied and sought to manipulate with ease and confidence and with an arrogance that was astonishing.

‘You were intimately connected with every aspect of the fraud, stealing real details of real people to commit identity fraud on the large scale.’

Another member of the gang, Taiwo’s sister-in-law Olajumoke Ademuyiwa, 42, a Jobcentre Plus employee, was also found guilty of fraudulently obtaining tax credit payments in an earlier hearing.

Ademuyiwa opened the bank accounts into which the benefits were paid, but she is not thought to have used her role as a job centre worker to make false claims. Her husband, Oluyemi Amidu Taiwo – Taiwo’s brother – is thought to have fled the country. She is due to be sentenced in April.

Richard Young, senior investigating officer for HMRC said: ‘This pair blatantly hijacked the identities of over 350 innocent people and stole from British taxpayers by submitting over 300 fraudulent tax credit claims between June 2004 and July 2008.

‘They deliberately attacked and abused a system designed to provide financial help to the most vulnerable people in our society.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1360037/Nigerian-Olaide-Taiwo-stole-350-IDs-claim-1-3m-benefits.html

Another Taiwo again!

nwabobo:

Another Taiwo again!

What is he is using a fake name since he is an expert in forging passports?. We may not know his real name or ethnic group until further proof is given besides, the man looks Tiv or Hausa to me(j/k).

He is prolly Ibo


I will let Ileke-idi elucidate further on my hunch

fstranger3:

He is prolly Ibo


I will let Ileke-idi elucidate further on my hunch

Why must you introduce Igbo in everything here?.

fstranger3:

He is prolly Ibo


I will let Ileke-idi elucidate further on my hunch

Why do you want to deny your yoruba brother?
It is not fair.

henry101:



Why do you want to deny your yoruba brother?
It is not fair.

Do you have any other proof that he is Yoruba apart from the name which could be fake?. Nevertheless, who cares after all he is known as the Nigerian biggest ID thief ever seen in UK and not Yoruba biggest ID thief in UK.

aloy/emeka:

Do you have any other proof that he is Yoruba apart from the name which could be fake?. Nevertheless, who cares after all he is known as the Nigerian biggest ID thief ever seen in UK and not Yoruba biggest ID thief in UK.

Did you not see that his sister-in-law was involved and how his brother fled?
Do you need someone to explain their relationship?
Pathetic,

henry101:

Did you not see that his sister-in-law was involved and how his brother fled?
Do you need someone to explain their relationship?
Pathetic,

Bottomline is he is Nigerian and not Igbo or yoruba or Hausa etc.

He deserves to die.

Nigerians will always abuse an opportunity, its the reason our leaders steal and cant stop even when their accounts are obese and shapeless

Hmmm

Andre Uweh:

He deserves to die.

Die for wetin?

^^^
you are not normal

aloy/emeka:

Die for wetin?

4 his wicked crime

justwise:

4 his wicked crime

Just as how Ojukwu deserve to die for killing innocent children, fooling them to believe he was leading them on a fruitless expedition to Biafraland only to abandon them midway?

^^^
^^^
How is the crime wicked, you wont face the people that are killing you everyday, did you come online with PHCN power or gen. . .taking splinter from another's eye when you have a log in yours

blink182:

^^^
^^^
How is the crime wicked, you wont face the people that are killing you everyday, did you come online with PHCN power or gen. . .taking splinter from another's eye when you have a log in yours

You don't see stealing millions of £££ from innocent pple as a wicked crime? Who is killing me?

^^^
Are you in this country at all? I hope you are not another raving GEJ fan

blink182:

^^^
Are you in this country at all? I hope you are not another raving GEJ fan

Why don't see stealing £1.5m as a wicked crime? Thats the issue here, don't derailing the thread with u silly political view

justwise:

You don't see stealing millions of £££ from innocent pple as a wicked crime? Who is killing me?

how is it a wicked crime? he stole state funds, he didn't commit a violent crime. he didn't brandish a weapon neither did he get his victims traumatised. he simply stole their ids and took their entitlements which the state would pay back to the victims. i am not in support of this crooked fella but to say he deserves to die based on this crime is a bit exaggerated.

justwise:

Why don't see stealing £1.5m as a wicked crime? Thats the issue here, don't derailing the thread with u silly political view

Stealing is wicked but not in ur sense

*Cougar*:

how is it a wicked crime? he stole state funds, he didn't commit a violent crime. he didn't brandish a weapon neither did he get his victims traumatised. he simply stole their ids and took their entitlements which the state would pay back to the victims. i am not in support of this crooked fella but to say he deserves to die based on this crime is a bit exaggerated.

at least you get my point

*Cougar*:

how is it a wicked crime? he stole state funds, he didn't commit a violent crime. he didn't brandish a weapon neither did he get his victims traumatised. he simply stole their ids and took their entitlements which the state would pay back to the victims. i am not in support of this crooked fella but to say he deserves to die based on this crime is a bit exaggerated.

Its not state money, for u to get tax credit u must have paid into the system, so its the money u worked for, he caused emotional trauma to the victims and their families, its a wicked crime and he deserve the worst punishment, don't tell me that u are not supporting them, u actually do.

blink182:

Stealing is wicked but there are more important issues to be dealt with, the money will prolly be refunded. Far as I'm concerned its a closed case with justice delivered fast. . .so why all the hating?

When was the last time u saw ur doctor?

justwise:

Its not state money, for u to get tax credit u must have paid into the system, so its the money u worked for, he caused emotional trauma to the victims and their families, its a wicked crime and he deserve the worst punishment, don't tell me that u are not supporting them, u actually do.

it is still public funds. it is hmrc that pay tax credits and this is why the guy's sentence was huge. i don't know if you are just a sensationalist or just a complete simpleton. there's no death sentence in the united kingdom. suicide bombers get life imprisonment. murderers get 25 to life so why should a non-violent crime attract the death sentence? you are just ignorant. the maximum sentence anyone can get in a fraud case is 10 yrs. i mean if a fraudster should steal all the money available in the united kingdom, he cannot get more than 10 yrs.

as for you saying i support this man, it must be state of your depression. go get a shrink to sort your personal problems. i am sure you would blame your eternal woes on this fraudster now. you are probably telling your folks at home you couldn't send the money they requested because olaide taiwo stole your entitlements. what a twunt!

Nice to know that our bad image is still intact. DIE ke?

Even MPs are defrauding the state and they are not killed.

denzel2009:

Nice to know that our bad image is still intact. DIE ke?

Even MPs are defrauding the state and they are not killed.

and yet justfoolish wants a nigerian to be executed for stealing public funds.

*Cougar*:

it is still public funds. it is hmrc that pay tax credits and this is why the guy's sentence was huge. i don't know if you are just a sensationalist or just a complete[b] simpleton[/b]. there's no death sentence in the united kingdom. suicide bombers get life imprisonment. murderers get 25 to life so why should a non-violent crime attract the death sentence? you are just ignorant. the maximum sentence anyone can get in a fraud case is 10 yrs. i mean if a fraudster should steal all the money available in the united kingdom, he cannot get more than 10 yrs.
as for you saying i support this man, it must be state of your depression. go get a shrink to sort your personal problems. i am sure you would blame your eternal woes on this fraudster now. you are probably telling your folks at home you couldn't send the money they requested because olaide taiwo stole your entitlements. what a twunt!

The mention of the word: 'die' is my personal opinion, you never read anywhere in my posts where i linked it to the Uk judicial system,  whether its a public or private fund, its still a wicked crime, and for the name calling. . .i leave that for now.

denzel2009:

Nice to know that our bad image is still intact. DIE ke?

Even MPs are defrauding the state and they are not killed.

Yes. . if i have my way. . i will feed them to the dog, they are all crooks, including the Nigerian.

*Cougar*:

and yet justfoolish wants a nigerian to be executed for stealing public funds.

His hatred for anything Yoruba is unparalleled.

*Cougar*:

and yet justfoolish wants a nigerian to be executed for stealing public funds.

Yes he should be executed.

justwise:

Yes. . if i have my way. . i will feed them to the dog, they are all crooks, including the Nigerian.

Go back to your country and go feed your parents to the dog. They are scamming too.