“Social benefit fraud is fraud against society and must be prosecuted and punished accordingly in view of the enormous amounts of money involved in this area,” Amesbauer demanded in a press release. Around 70 percent of the suspects are strangers. “When it comes to maintaining the welfare state and the solidarity of the citizens that is necessary for it, social abuse must not be ignored under any circumstances.”
High number of unreported cases
The head of the task force, Brigadier Bernhard Gaber, assumes that the number of unreported cases is high. The corona protection measures, for example, made fraud easier because many applications and evidence only had to be submitted “online” instead of in person, he told the “Kleine Zeitung”.
The most common scams concern undeclared work in unemployment, minimum security despite assets, secret trips abroad and also the “old age lie”. The latter consists in adolescents making themselves younger in order to receive youth funding for longer.
Source: Nachrichten
