Since the establishment of a task force against benefit fraud in July 2018, the government has revealed damage totaling around 60 million euros in more than 11,000 reports. The range of offenses is very wide ranging from fraudulently obtaining minimum income or unemployment benefits to fraudulent pensions. According to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP), 30 percent of crimes are committed by residents and 70 percent by foreigners.
According to Karner, abuse of benefits is a classic control offence: the higher the search pressure, the more cases are known. Last year alone, a total of around 19.1 million euros in damage was found. Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) emphasized that while solidarity is a cornerstone of society, it must also apply to the taxpayers who finance these services. “Solidarity is not a one-way street,” Brunner said.
The violations were very widespread. According to Gerald Tatzgern, head of the Central Anti-Trafficking Agency, the task force identified 50 different ways social benefits were fraudulently obtained. The main categories were obtaining minimum income through fraud in spite of sufficient assets, misuse of pension benefits by forging a sham home, receiving child benefits illegally or obtaining basic services through fraud using a false identity.
Delivery services “close to the eye”
The head of the financial police, Wilfried Lehner, explains that it is mainly the areas with a lot of underqualified personnel and especially under price pressure that use fraud variants. There is a typical accumulation in construction and construction-related occupations and in rental companies. All sectors employing temporary workers are affected here – right down to industry. Delivery services or parcel deliverers that are active via various online platforms are also “closely monitored”.
For example, Lehner reported on a supermarket chain where all 1,100 employees worked marginally, even though they had been working full-time. The unemployment benefit was practically “part of the business model” here. When such corporate structures fly, they are usually regrouped. That is why a record is kept of where the employees go, with the aim of removing the group of perpetrators, he explained the procedure.
Rented a villa, but received unemployment benefits
The situation was similar to a hotel cleaning company and a security company. All work data was incorrect, people worked much longer than indicated, the difference was paid on the black. In other cases, part of the salary was withheld in full. Furthermore, a woman was examined who received both unemployment benefits and unemployment benefits for an amount of 30,000 euros, although she had an income of approximately 80,000 euros from the rental of 17 holiday apartments and a villa in Croatia for the period from 2016 to 2021.
The authorities emphasized that they should continue to fight against obtaining social benefits through fraud. After all, this money isn’t available for “other projects we want to carry out,” as Brunner said.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
