A Bulgarian national orchestrated a scheme that defrauded British taxpayers of 2.2 million pounds, as reported by the Sunday Telegraph. Between 2020 and 2024, Tanyo Danchev arranged for Bulgarian nationals to travel to the UK specifically to pose as welfare applicants. These individuals were flown to the UK, escorted to job centers, and then flown back to Bulgaria after submitting their applications.

Danchev, aged 39, was responsible for organizing the flights and transporting these individuals from the airport to the job centers—government offices that provide job information and manage unemployment benefits. At the job centers, the Bulgarians would personally submit claims for Universal Credit before Danchev returned them to the airport for their journey back to Bulgaria.

Earlier this month, Danchev was sentenced to seven years in prison after admitting to 29 counts of fraud at Snaresbrook Crown Court. Investigators from the Department for Work and Pensions discovered that Danchev maintained control over the bank accounts of those involved in the scam, withdrawing a total of 2.2 million pounds in cash.

The investigation revealed that the Bulgarians were ineligible for Universal Credit benefits as they were not residents of the UK, and the companies they claimed to work for were fictitious. This case follows another recent fraud conviction earlier in the year, where a group of five Bulgarians was found guilty of the largest welfare fraud in the UK, amounting to over 50 million pounds.