By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-09-29 10:49:23 | Updated at 2026-09-29 11:33:51
1 hour ago
A member of Britain's largest-ever benefits fraud ring, which cheated the public purse out of £54million, has been ordered to pay back just £18,000.
Tsvetka Todorova, 54, a Bulgarian national who personally profited by £263,514 through thousands of fraudulent claims, received a three-year prison sentence in May 2024.
Following her release in late 2025, a confiscation order hearing in January set her repayment figure at £101,201.78.
Todorova has returned just £18,228.14 in total, less than a fifth of the total demanded.
The July deadline to settle the debt passed without full payment and interest is now accruing on the remaining balance.
Todorova complained of illness and dismissed the inquiry when confronted about her failure to pay.
She told a Daily Mail reporter from her upstairs window: "I don't want to talk about this. With my health condition this is already too much. Nobody can come to the house to bother me with anything."
She now says she is "depressed" and experiencing "high blood pressure because of the case."
Tsvetka Todorova personally profited by £263,514 through thousands of fraudulent claims
CPS
Yet after leaving prison, Todorova openly celebrated her taxpayer-funded existence.
"I love it here, it is good and has helped me. I've been back on benefits since December 30," she said from her rented home in Erith, south-east London.
She also taunted authorities over a two-bedroom Bulgarian property valued at £90,000, claiming: "They can't touch it."
Todorova was one of five Bulgarian nationals who orchestrated the massive swindle.
The gang spent Universal Credit on luxury cars after cheating the system
CPS
Her co-conspirators, Galina Nikolova, 40, Stoyan Stoyanov, 29, Gyunesh Ali, 36, and Patritsia Paneva, 28, helped steal 6,000 identities to submit bogus Universal Credit applications between October 2016 and 2021.
The fraudsters even exploited the names of children based in Bulgaria to bolster their claims.
Three so-called "benefit factories" were established across London, producing fake tenancy agreements, fabricated payslips and forged correspondence purportedly from landlords, doctors and employers to deceive the DWP.
The operation only unravelled when a police officer in Bulgaria flagged a suspicious pattern of criminals in the city of Sliven acquiring sudden, unexplained wealth, prompting UK authorities to investigate.
The four other Bulgarian nationals who orchestrated the massive swindle
CPS
Authorities have so far clawed back roughly £1million from the gang and are chasing a further £1million, a mere sliver of the £54million stolen.
The proceeds were lavished on high-end vehicles, designer clothing and expensive watches.
Prosecutor Gareth Munday told a hearing that investigators were pursuing only what they could "realistically trace," noting that one gang member had admitted transferring "cash overseas."
As of January, all convicted members bar Ali had been freed and placed on immigration bail pending deportation.
For Todorova, failure to satisfy the confiscation order could land her back behind bars for up to five years.
