Welfare Fraud Queenpin Ordered to Repay £260k After Jail
A Bulgarian woman caught in Britain’s biggest-ever welfare scam has been slapped with a massive payback order. Tsvetka Todorova, 54, was jailed for three years in May 2024 after cheating taxpayers out of more than £54million.
Scammer Made a Fortune – Now Must Return Every Penny
After just 18 months behind bars, Todorova was let loose and immediately started claiming benefits again. Investigators uncovered she personally pocketed a whopping £263,514 from the giant fraud. Despite her benefit claims, the authorities found she and her husband own a £90,000 two-bedroom home in Bulgaria.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is now reassessing the couple’s benefit rights. They’ve confirmed Todorova faces coughing up every penny she’s claimed since her release.
Defiant Fraudster Refuses to Pay Up
But Todorova is standing firm. “We have a two-bedroom house in Bulgaria that the prosecution has valued at £90,000 but they can’t touch it,” she claimed. “We are married and the house is in both our names. My husband has no connection to the case.”
She insists the Bulgarian home is just a holiday pad, painting herself as the real victim. Todorova said prison was “like a vacation” with perks like mani-pedis and hairdressing. Now, she adds, both she and her husband suffer from depression and health problems linked to the case.
Gang Jailed for Total of 25 Years Over Multi-Million Scam
Tsvetka Todorova wasn’t the only one caught in the net. Co-conspirators Galina Nikolova, Gyunesh Ali, Patritsia Paneva, and Stoyan Stoyanov were also sentenced, racking up a combined 25 years behind bars at Wood Green Crown Court in 2024.
