A benefits scammer hid her partner’s £53,000 a year salary from welfare bosses so she could claim £27,000 in handouts.
Dundee Sheriff Court was told Anita Brown used the cash to shop online and play the lottery.
She now faces a jail term after her four-and-a-half-year fraud was exposed.
Brown claimed she was living alone with her adult son when in reality offshore worker Ian Baillie was living with her.
His oil industry wage, paid into their joint bank account, funded their household expenses in Britannia Drive, Dundee.
Meanwhile, Brown maintained her own separate account where she had employment support allowance, housing benefit and council tax benefit paid in.
Dundee Sheriff Court was told that later analysis found that the fraudulent cash had been used to fund online shopping, tickets for the postcode lottery and a hotel trip.
Brown later told investigators that Mr Baillie was only a “very good friend” but he claimed he “hoped to marry her one day”.
Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told the court Brown was divorced, had no savings nad was looking after her son when she first claimed benefits.
Brown, 56, of Britannia Drive, pleaded guilty on indictment to two offences under the Social Security Administration Act.
One was committed between January 2 2009 and June 30 2013, while the other was committed between June 14 2011 and June 30 2013.
Sheriff George Way deferred sentence until January for social work background reports and released Brown on bail meantime.