A man who fraudulently altered a wage slip in order to claim benefits he wasn’t entitled to was caught after making a two pence calculation error. Abdalah Aminu, 35, of Kestral Crescent, Oxford, pleaded guilty to five counts of benefit fraud when he appeared at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Monday 5 August. Aminu admitted that, while living at a property in St Mary’s, Wantage, he had dishonestly doctored a wage slip and bank statement, altering the amount of income received from his employer so that he would entitled to more council tax and housing benefit. Unfortunately for Aminu, he forgot to check his sums and failed to notice that the change made to the income on his bank statement was two pence less than the amount he had inserted on his wage slip. The alterations looked very realistic and it was only thanks to the eagle eye of a benefits assessor that his fraud was uncovered in September 2010. Without their attention to detail Aminu could have potentially cost the tax payer thousands more in overpayments. The investigation into Aminu’s benefit claims had actually begun two months earlier when officers became aware that he had declared the wrong start date after beginning work as a security guard. The case was then passed to assessors who picked up on the wider and more serious deception. In October 2010 Aminu was interviewed under caution when he admitted making changes to the documents. While being questioned he claimed the reason for the deception was because he had panicked after realising that he failed to tell the council he had started work so he provided an incorrect start date for his job and then changed his wage slips rather than admitting his error. Further investigations, including obtaining statements for his bank account directly from his bank, also revealed that Aminu had failed to disclose that he owned a house in Telford, and that deposits relating to this property were missing from any of the bank statements he provided. He was therefore interviewed again in May 2011 when he admitted the further offence. A summons was issued for Aminu to attend court in November 2011 however he failed to do so, having gone on an extended holiday to Ghana. A warrant was therefore issued for his arrest. Aminu returned to Britain earlier this year and was arrested in June when he was held in custody overnight. After being given leave to seek legal advice he pleaded guilty to all five counts of benefit fraud relating to his claims for support between November 2009 and June 2010. Magistrates’ handed Aminu, who has already paid the overpayment back, a two year conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £1,019 towards the costs of the prosecution. Cllr Matthew Barber, Leader of Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “Although the amount involved in this case was relatively small the attempted deception certainly wasn’t. If it hadn’t been for the attention to detail of one of our assessors then a much bigger sum of tax payer’s money would’ve ended up in the hands of someone who was making a fraudulent claim. “It’s very important that everyone claiming benefits is honest when they declare their income or capital. We simply will not tolerate anyone who tries to play the system to get more money than they are entitled to.”