A Bulgarian gang member behind UK’s biggest benefit fraud has bragged British prison was like a ‘holiday’ where she could get haircuts and manicures.
Five crooks raked in almost £54million after using thousands of fake ID claims to fuel their luxurious lifestyles, before they were jailed fora total of 25 years last month.
Tsvetka Todorova, 52, Galina Nikolova, 38, Stoyan Stoyanov, 27, Gyunesh Ali, 33, and Patritsia Paneva, 26, used a combination of fake identities and real customers to make roughly 6,000 fraudulent Universal Credit claims during four-and-a-half year spree, operating out of three ‘benefits factories’ in north London.
But now Todorova says the true amount the gang plundered could be far higher – as she boasted to Bulgarian media about her luxurious life inside.
She gloated that her time in prison had been like being in a ‘vacation home’, and spoke about going to the gym and doing art.
Tsvetka Todorova, 52, says the true amount the gang plundered could be far higher – as she boasted to Bulgarian media about her luxurious life inside
The gang used a combination of fake identities and real customers to make roughly 6,000 fraudulent Universal Credit claims during four-and-a-half year spree. Pictured: Galina Nikolova, Gyunesh Ali, Patritsia Paneva and Stoyan Stoyanov
Prosecutors said the gang used the benefits system ‘like a cash machine’. Pictured: Huge stacks of cash found during the investigation
The enormous haul of money gained from the claims was laundered through a number of accounts, then withdrawn in cash – with £750,000 in bank notes found stuffed in suitcases at one of their homes
HMP Bronzefield also houses the likes of Jemma Mitchell, who cut up her close friend and wheeled her body around town in a suitcase before dumping her remains, Babes in the Wood murderer Jennifer Johnson and double-killer Nicola Edgington
The fraudster was sentenced to three years in May, but because she had already served 18 months on remand at HMP Bronzefield she was able to leave court on license.
The lock-up, in Ashford, Middlesex, also houses the likes of Jemma Mitchell, who cut up her close friend and wheeled her body around town in a suitcase before dumping her remains, Babes in the Wood murderer Jennifer Johnson and double-killer Nicola Edgington.
‘Living conditions in the prison are very good. I never felt like I was in a prison, it was like a vacation home,’ she told BNT News.
‘Nevertheless I was in a bad mental state in the first two months. There is a gym inside. There is a hair salon, I got a manicure there.
‘You can do your hair or makeup… There are also educational courses. I even visited an art course inside.’
The crook said that lags have to pay for the services, but they only cost ‘£2 to £5’ so are ‘absolutely accessible for everybody’.
Acting independently from the other gang members, Todorova had stolen just under £300,000.
Throughout her trial she insisted that she had never met her co-defendants before their arrest. Officers found £14,000 stashed around her north London flat.
Two of the criminals – Galina Nikolova, 38, and Stoyan Stoyanov, 27 – pictured together in 2020 while on holiday in Turkey
Nikolova is also seen standing behind the counter of Antonia’s Foods in Wood Green, pouting at the camera alongside an unknown man
On Gyunesh Ali’s mobile phone that was seized, officers found a video showing the fraudsters showering their flat with hundreds of £20 notes
While further confiscations are set to be held over the summer, The Telegraph reports that currently just under £1million has been recovered.
The enormous haul of money gained from their ‘complex financial web’ of claims was laundered through a number of accounts, then withdrawn in cash – with £750,000 in bank notes found stuffed in suitcases at one of their homes.
The group appeared to be hiding in plain sight – posting photos on social media smiling and posing behind the counter of Antonia’s Foods supermarket in Wood Green.
Investigators who arrested the gang and searched their properties also discovered hundreds of ‘claim packs’ containing forged and false documents, and more than 900 digital devices.
Prosecutors said the gang used the benefits system ‘like a cash machine’ and on one of the seized mobile phones was a video showing the fraudsters showering their flat with hundreds of £20 notes.
They used their ill-gotten gains to fund luxury lifestyles, buying designer clothes, watches and even a high-end Audi sports car. On social media they shamelessly flaunted expensive spa breaks and posted snaps of them holidaying abroad.
Their criminal convictions marked the largest benefit fraud prosecution and investigation ever brought to the courts in England and Wales.
But between October 2016 and May 2021, the organised criminal group made about 6,000 fraudulent claims.
They used their ill-gotten gains to fund luxury lifestyles, buying designer clothes, watches and even a high-end Audi sports car
Nikolova and Stoyanov pose at an attraction during a lavish trip to Istanbul (left) in September 2020, before later sharing a photo together on a jaunt to Manchester (right) in October 2020
They were supported by forged documents including fictitious tenancy agreements, counterfeit payslips and forged letters from landlords, employers and GPs.
If any claims were rejected, the fraudsters would persevere until they were approved.
All five were arrested on May 5, 2021, as part of the Met’s Operation Volcanic but Ali fled to Bulgaria following his release under investigation.
He was extradited back to Britain in February last year and eventually admitted conspiracy to make false representations, possession of articles for use in a fraud and possessing criminal property.
As investigators searched through their homes they found hundreds of ‘claim packs’ containing forged and false documents were found and seized, as well as bundles of cash stuffed in shopping bags and suitcases, a luxury car and designer goods including watches, jackets, and glasses.
When faced with the large amount of incriminating evidence which included encrypted messages, CCTV footage, forged documents, seized digital devices and bank statements, the defendants eventually all pleaded guilty.
The roll call of Britain’s benefit’s cheats:
Benefit fraud in Britain peaked at £8.6billion between 2021 and 2022, almost double what the levels they were at before the pandemic.
It has led to dozens of convictions over the last few years. Here, MailOnline highlights some of the crooks:
Ethel McGill, 72
McGill was labelled ‘Britain’s worst benefits cheat’ when she swindled £750,000 by hiding her father’s death and faking dementia.
Ethel McGill, pictured, pretended she had dementia as part of a long-running benefits and disability fraud
It led to the amateur actress to being jailed for five years and eight months in July 2019 before being given an extra months on her sentence in 2020 for failing to pay back £200,500 of her ill-gotten gains.
At Liverpool Crown Court, McGill admitted hiding her late father Robert Dennison’s death for 12 years so she could claim his war pension and benefits.
On one occasion she got a friend to lie under a blanket and pretend to be him at her home in Runcorn, Cheshire.
The CPS said at the time that it was one of the ‘largest ever cases of benefit fraud by a single person’.
Ali Bana Mohamed, 42
Ali Bana Mohamed, 42, was jailed in 2022 for masterminding a decade-long scam to cheat taxpayers out of at least £1.7million
Mohamed, from Hulme in Manchester, faked the identities of almost 200 children to pocket public money.
He was jailed in 2022 for masterminding a decade-long scam to cheat taxpayers out of at least £1.7million.
He enlisted relatives and friends to assist him in submitting bogus claims under about 70 different names, using stolen identities of adults along with the fake birth certificates of 188 children.
All the fraudulent claims were made on the basis that the adult had care of named children and was entitled to child benefit and tax credits.
Mohamed admitted 29 fraud offences and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in 2022. Last year he was ordered to repay more than £2million.
Neil Filer, 46
Filer pocketed nearly £30,000 of taxpayers’ money after falsely claiming he had an array of serious medical conditions – then splurged the cash on cocaine and a lavish lifestyle.
Neil Filer (pictured) pocketed nearly £30,000 of taxpayers’ money after falsely claiming he had an array of serious medical conditions
He told the Department for Work and Pensions he had diabetes, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and right-sided weakness after a heart attack – adding that his health was so bad he could walk only short distances.
The crook insisted he needed help with washing, bathing, dressing, preparing food, reading and remembering to eat, leading to extensive claims under the Personal Independent Payments scheme.
Meanwhile, on social media he made ‘boastful’ posts about an action-packed holiday to Orlando, Florida, with pictures showing him unaccompanied on a ’90ft drop slide’ at a waterpark and on a roller-coaster.
Filer pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud, claimed £29,245 over four years and nine months. He was likened to Little Britain character Andy Pipkin, who pretended to be disabled, after he was jailed for 11 months.
Mercedes Bradley, 33
Former Virgin Atlantic air stewardess Mercedes Bradley defrauded the taxpayer for £10,000 in benefits even though she had £48,000 in a secret bank account
Former Virgin Atlantic air stewardess Bradley claimed Universal Credit benefits even though she had £48,000 in a secret bank account where she received payments from ‘ex-boyfriends’ – one of whom transferred her more than £30,000.
She admitted was of dishonestly failing to notify the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of capital savings or investments which would affect entitlement to Universal Credit between March 26 2020 and August 28 2021.
During this time she splashed cash on a boob job, other cosmetic surgery and a Peloton exercise bike. She was sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work in November 2022.
