Woman jailed for using fake mum to claim thousands

A woman has been jailed after pretending another woman was her dead mum to fraudulently claim more than £17,000 in financial support.

Agnieszka Macugowska, 45, continued to claim up to £200 a week two years after her mother's death and tried to dupe Coventry City Council by introducing a fake mother when staff visited in 2020.

The fraud was uncovered when council investigations discovered her mother had in fact died in 2018, while abroad.

At Warwick Crown Court, Macugowska was jailed for two years and seven months after pleading guilty to theft and two counts of fraud.

According to the council, Macugowska's mother had a care plan with the city council which started in 2015, receiving up to £200 a week in benefits, which she managed with support from her daughter.

In 2020, when the council failed to receive information so it could continue to monitor payments, Macugowska told them her mother still lived in Coventry, but had changed doctors and travelled abroad for medical treatment.

She then provided information to support the use of direct payments.

Following further inquiries, the council discovered Macugowska's mother had actually died in November 2018.

Councillor Abdul Salam Khan, the authority's deputy leader, said some "unscrupulous" people thought they could exploit the system and secure financial gain at the expense of others.

He said: "It is well known that Coventry, like all local authorities, is facing severe pressure on its budget, and a lot of that is because of the increasing costs in caring for adults and children and supporting the most vulnerable in our community.

"It is a responsibility we take very seriously and we work hard to help as many as we can, and we will not stand by and let the system be exploited. As in this case, we will investigate and ensure those who steal from others are prosecuted."

The falsely-claimed sum of more than £17,000 had been recovered in full by the council, a spokesperson added.

The sentencing was on 12 February.

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