A Bulgarian woman who played a role in Britain’s biggest ever welfare fraud has been ordered to pay back all of her ill-gotten gains after the Daily Mail uncovered she was back on benefits after being released from jail.
Tsvetka Todorova was jailed for three years in May 2024 for her role in the conspiracy, which stole more than £54million.
But as the Mail revealed yesterday, the 54-year-old has returned to her London home and signed on to Universal Credit alongside her husband, who she says receives £1,300 a month.
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Following our report, the Department for Work and Pensions launched a review into Todorova’s benefits claims and has since confirmed she will need to pay back all the money she has received.
But in a new boast from her home in Erith, south-east London, she vowed not to pay back a penny.
She told the Mail: ‘Our place in London is rented. We have a two-bedroom house in Bulgaria that the prosecution has valued at £90,000 but they can’t touch it.
‘We are married and the house is in both our names. My husband has no connection to the case.’
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Tsvetka Todorova speaking to the Daily Mail inside her flat in Erith, south-east London
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Her gang raked in more than £54million from Britain’s biggest ever benefit fraud
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The group hijacked 6,000 identities to make claims for Universal Credit and even used the names of children living in Bulgaria as part of the five-year scam
Asked what she used the house for, Todorova replied, ‘We go there for vacation’.
The criminal confirmed she had heard from the DWP that her entitlement to benefits was being reviewed, before it was revealed she would have to pay the money back.
She said she felt ‘very stressed’ and wanted money to fix her ‘broken’ teeth, which were causing her pain.
In her earlier interview, Todorova said she ‘loved it’ in Britain, adding: ‘I’ve been back on benefits since December 30. It’ll be about £200 a month.
‘I don’t have a right to work. My husband gets over £1,000 for Universal Credit – I think it’s £1,300 – and he gets more as well.’
One of her fellow gang members is also said to be enjoying a relaxed lifestyle after being released from prison, with neighbours describing how she spends all her time smoking and walking around in a dressing gown.
But Todorova – who described her time in prison as ‘like a vacation’ and boasted of having her hair done and a manicure – claims to now be ‘depressed’ and ill.
She said: ‘My husband is depressed. I am depressed as well. I have had high blood pressure because of the case. My husband also has a lot of back pain.
Todorova and four co-conspirators ‘systematically plundered’ the UK’s welfare system over a four-and-a-half-year period by making thousands of false Universal Credit claims.
All of them other than Ali have now been freed from prison and are on immigration bail awaiting deportation.
But this can only take place once confiscation proceedings have concluded against the gang, three of whom – Galina Nikolova, 40, Patritsia Panev, 28, and 29-year-old Stoyan Stoyanov – have been told to pay back just £1million.
Todorova has rejected the opportunity to apologise for her crimes and instead insisted she was innocent, despite pleading guilty.
Todorova (left) in a police mugshot alongside fellow gang member Patritsia Panev, 28
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Todorova’s flat – pictured – is inside a converted house
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Couple Stoyan Stoyanov and Galina Nikolova were also sent to prison over the scam
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Nikolova is also seen standing behind the counter of Antonia’s Foods in Wood Green, pouting at the camera alongside an unknown man
She said: ‘I was only helping. They have made a mistake with me.
‘I have to go to a centre in Croydon because I am on immigration bail. I think I will stay in Britain. They cannot push me. They cannot force me.’
One neighbour described how parcels were often delivered to the flat Todorova shares with her husband and claimed they often wear expensive clothes.
Another gang member enjoying early freedom is Patritsia Paneva – who made at least £225,000 in the scam – and now spends her time relaxing at her east London home.
She closed the door when approached for a comment this week, with the 28-year-old still wearing a dressing gown despite it being the afternoon.
One neighbour said: ‘All she does is stand outside the front door, smoking. She’s always got her dressing gown on. That is all she does.’
The fraud gang hijacked 6,000 identities to make claims for Universal Credit and even used the names of children living in Bulgaria as part of the five-year scam.
They set up three ‘benefit factories’ across London, churning out bogus tenancy agreements, counterfeit pay slips and forged letters from landlords, employers, and GPs to trick the Department for Work and Pensions.
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Gang member Gyunesh Ali is the only member of the conspiracy who is still in prison. He had to be extradited from Bulgaria
The group was only uncovered after a Bulgarian police officer notified UK officials about a trend of criminals in the city of Sliven who had come into large sums of cash.
Officials are now said to have recouped about £1million from the gang but are trying for £1million more – just a fraction of the total they originally stole.
Prosecutor Gareth Munday told a hearing that the sums being sought were what officials could ‘realistically trace’, with one of the gang admitting she had moved ‘money in cash overseas’.
A Government spokesperson said: ‘We cannot comment on individual claims. When someone is convicted of benefit fraud, a loss of benefit is applied to any future claims.’
