Mum claimed benefit for 15 fake children
The 27-year-old, from Jubilee Avenue, Etruria, was overpaid by more than £38,000 in tax credits after filling in forms and making calls to a helpline.
Fourteen of the children's names were fictitious. Another was that of a young girl who received treatment at Specsavers in Longton, where Faisal worked.
Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard yesterday Faisal first made fraudulent claims in 2005 and carried on until 2007 despite being investigated by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) from 2006. In total, she was overpaid £38,679.
Her husband Failsal Mahmood, from whom she has now separated, did not know what she was doing, the court heard.
But just weeks after discovering he was being investigated, £17,000 was withdrawn from his wife's building society account and transferred into his own.
He pleaded guilty to possession of criminal property and was jailed for six months.
Prosecutor Raymond Herman, representing HMRC, said Faisal's first application was fraudulent from the outset.
"She made false claims, claims for inflated child care, claims for children who were fictitious, and said others were disabled to boost the tax credit.
"She made around 500 calls to the helpline."
The court heard Faisal was interviewed in November, 2006, and again in January, 2007, when she made admissions she had made inflated claims. But just more than a week later, she called to falsely assert her care costs had risen and reiterated it on a tax form in June, 2007.
Mr Herman said aggravating features of Faisal's offending were the length of the fraud, the large sum involved, it was fraudulent from the start, she persisted with it despite being investigated, the wide nature of the offence and the breach of trust involved.
Alexander Jacobs, defending Faisal, who admitted 18 offences of fraud, asked for her to be given a suspended sentence for the sake of her children.
He said Faisal had been forced into the marriage by her parents and was saving the money to leave her husband.
"She found it so easy to make a telephone call and receive money for nothing. It was need, not greed. There was no evidence of lavish living."
But Judge Robert Trevor-Jones told Faisal: "Over 18 months, you became greedier and greedier.
"Your claims were cynical, sustained, bold and quite sophisticated."
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