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Citizens' money fraud is on the rise: job centers are sounding the alarm!
Cases of fraud involving citizens' money in Gelsenkirchen are increasing. Job centers warn of mafia-like structures and challenges.
Citizens' money fraud is on the rise: job centers are sounding the alarm!
The problem of social fraud in connection with citizens' money is becoming more and more urgent. In several cities in Germany, including Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen and Berlin, job centers are sounding the alarm about the growing number of fraud cases. Mercury reports that migrants from southern and eastern Europe in particular use fake registrations, rental contracts and translator services to access social benefits. Families with large children are particularly interesting for fraudsters because they can receive more support.
In Duisburg and other cities, the job centers are faced with enormous additional work. Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) even described these structures as “mafiosi”. It is not just the social abuse that is worrying, but also the fact that criminal networks are often behind the schemes. Loud Berlin newspaper Many of these migrant workers come from Bulgaria and Romania and often find themselves in mini-jobs that give them access to citizen's money. These fraudulent structures operate carefully and often with slight camouflage, which makes prosecution more difficult.
Fraud mechanisms in detail
As the Frankfurter Rundschau notes, the system consists of legal registrations and rental agreements, which often turns out to be in favor of the applicants if the fraud ends up in court. In the past, there have been over 123,000 suspected cases of benefit fraud, with more than 100,000 cases confirming the initial suspicion.
The employers, who are often also landlords, offer migrants a deceptive deal: low wages for mini-jobs, while the majority of citizens' money flows into the pockets of those behind them. Particularly problematic is the high pressure on job centers, which will be overloaded in 2024 and 2025 due to a lack of staff and cut funding by the traffic light government. Clarifying claims and monitoring them are extremely complicated.
Future reforms and measures
The new Labor Minister Bas is aware of the challenges and is planning comprehensive reforms. The aim is to dismantle “mafiosi structures” in the area of citizens’ money. Improved data exchange between job centers and other authorities is intended to help protect against fraud and verification of eligibility is being sought. The coalition of the SPD and the Union would like to create a new “basic security for job seekers” by reforming citizens’ benefits.
Job centers and authorities are not only faced with the challenge of abuse, but also have to ensure that those who are genuinely in need are helped. This is the only way to ensure fair access to social benefits without honest payers having to pay for the machinations of others.