351 million euros in one year. This is the amount assessed by the government in 2022 for fraud in social benefits, namely family allowances, housing allowances or even the RSA (up from 304 million in 2018).
Faced with this problem, successive governments have sought for years new ways to identify and punish fraudsters.
The current government is no exception to this desire. Gabriel Attal, the Minister of Public Accounts must present a new fight plan in the coming weeks.
Objective, to give new tools to the administration to update suspicious behaviors of the beneficiaries.
Identify recipients residing abroad
“Today, the Social Security Funds can already consult various things: electricity bills, bank transactions. I would like us to expand,” explains Gabriel Attal, Minister of Public Accounts at RMC and BFMTV, on Wednesday.
“That the Social Security Funds that have doubts about the fact that a person has actually resided on French soil can access the files of airline passengers, the PNR file (Passanger Name Record, Ed), to see when no one flew to France,” he explains.
And thus know precisely on what dates the beneficiaries are actually present on national soil.
This possibility was confirmed by Olivier Véran, government spokesman during the report of the Council of Ministers.
“It’s not a matter of coping”
“It is not about monitoring” the beneficiaries, “when you receive national solidarity funds, you have to have the right to receive them”, Gabriel Attal abounds.
In the same context, the government wants to generalize to nine months the minimum time of residence in France to be able to receive these subsidies.
“Today, to receive the minimum old-age or family allowances, you have to spend six months in France, to receive the APL (personalized housing assistance, editor’s note) you have to spend eight months in France, to receive the RSA (rent of active solidarity), you have to spend nine months in France”, listed Gabriel Attal. “I am in favor of harmonizing everything at nine months,” he added.
Finally, the government has already announced the prohibition, as of July 1, 2023, of the payment of benefits (excluding pensions) to non-European bank accounts.
Social media analysis
Identifying suspicious behavior seems to be at the heart of CAF’s new arsenal for finding fraudsters. Since 2020, the administration has been able to analyze public content posted by recipients on social networks such as Facebook.
“The controls carried out by the Family Branch are intended to confirm or invalidate the information provided by the beneficiary when requesting the right,” he told BFMTV at the time of launching this initiative.
However, examination of passenger files and/or analysis of social media posts are not sufficient by themselves to establish fraudulent conduct. These items should complement other conclusive items, including those collected from other social service organizations or banks.
Source: BFM TV
