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Abuse of social benefits often has a significant societal impact and extends beyond just the direct financial damage to the government. It undermines support for social benefits and affects the sense of justice. Fraudsters continuously look for weaknesses in regulations or systems to gain financial or economic advantage. Benefit fraud is increasingly taking place at the organized level. This usually involves fraudulent collaboration between employers and employees. This can include the use of sham constructions, fictitious employment relationships, bankruptcy fraud, intermediaries, and front men ('straw men').
A recent example of organized benefit fraud that has caused a stir is the large-scale fraud by Polish labour migrants. Partly due to this scandal, the Enforcement and Data Exchange Unit of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW) wants to expand its expertise in organized fraud. For this reason, SZW has asked Dialogic to conduct research on patterns in organized fraud (and in combating it) in four domains outside social benefits. This is a follow-up to our previous research for WODC into the Dark Number in Crime ('Groping in the dark'). Initially, we focus on bankruptcy fraud, tax fraud, healthcare fraud, and environmental fraud. The results of the research are expected to be available by the end of September 2019.
Want to know more? Contact Robbin te Velde.