High upon the political agenda here in the UK right now is the issue of illegal immigration and how to tackle it.
There are many reasons as to why there is a huge influx of immigrants at this moment in time.
Most of them are decent, law-abiding people, who are looking for the opportunity to make something of themselves in a different country.
Some are political refugees, looking to escape tyranny or persecution in the countries of their birth.
A few are less than honest, looking to scam the British taxpayer by making fraudulent claims for unemployment benefit, housing benefit, etc. Often those behind such scams have arrived in the country illegally and may claim in many different, and bogus, names.
Most of the time those behind such scams are clever and highly organised, meticulously planning how they will dupe the authorities without getting caught.
Then, there are people like Julio Zapata Mateo -
Mateo, from Finsbury Park in north London, arrived in the UK after paying £1,800 for a set of fake Portugese identity documents. These allowed him to gain entry to the country from the Dominican Republic.
However, when he went to claim unemployment benefit, officials asked him for his name in order to process his claim. Obviously thrown by the choices before him, the hapless Mateo asked whether he should use his real name or the one on his documents.
Mateo was sentenced to nine months in prison for fraud and the judge at Snaresbrook Crown Court also recommended he be deported.
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