Nothing new I'm afraid.
Before barriers were installed (and after the gates has stopped being used) at Waterloo and the platforms were open access, the ticket office staff knew when there was a revenue block on as the number of people turning up and buying a 'single to Vauxhall' went through the roof. Platform ticket sales were then suspended as well.
Indeed. We carried out operations at Waterloo when the barriers were first installed alongside revenue staff (2009 ish?) primarily to detect those buying the cheapest ticket possible to get through the barriers. The amount of people reported were literally hundreds per week.
In this case, as soon as the person said to any RPI “I got a call just before Clapham junction to go to New Haw”, that would have raised eyebrows. For starters, Byfleet isn’t exactly an industrial hub for business, but does strangely attract a lot of fare evasion because (surprise surprise, it’s minutes from Woking and West Byfleet, both of which have ticket barriers (I think West Byfleet does now too?). New Haw is also home to a few big warehouses.