Family allowances: 351 million euros fraudulently received in 2022

351 million euros is the record amount of family allowance fraud detected in 2022. The National Family Allowance Fund (Cnaf) carried out 32.4 million checks last year, which made it possible to identify 48 692 intentional fraudan increase of 11.6% compared to the previous yearaccording to the data revealed this Sunday by the JDD. The total amount of sums unfairly, but intentionally collected, amounts to 351 million euros against 309 million in 2021 (+ 13.5%). Less than 10% of frauds (4,322) resulted in a complaint being filed.

It is the RSA fraud, the active solidarity income, which causes the most cheating: 60% of the sums unduly received. Next come the activity bonus (13%), housing aid (12%) and the disabled adult allowance (3%).

Cross-files, on-site visits

The technicians in charge of checks carry out the checks by cross-checking the information provided by the recipients and by crossing it with that available to other organizations, such as Pôle emploi or tax offices. “Our controls aim to ensure the right amount, that is to say pay the right amount with regard to an individual situation, and to rectify errors when there are any”, emphasizes to the Sunday newspaper Nicolas Grivel, CEO of Cnaf.

And it’s not so much the number of fraudsters that has exploded, but the fact that the controls know better and better how to reach their target, according to the explanations given to France Info. Moving around is, for example, a very effective way of verifying information. In 2022, of the 32 million and some checks, more than 134,000 were carried out on site, 10,000 more than the year before. 700 CAF agents are legally sworn to go to recipients’ homes.

And if the average damage reaches 7,217 euros, accumulated over a period that is not specified, the “small” fraudsters are not those who benefit the most from collective generosity. Thirty “super investigators” of the Cnaf have been working for two years at the National Service for the Fight against High-Stakes Fraud (SNLFE) alongside tax specialists or the Urssaf, to flush out large-scale scams, whether it be the hacking of bank data, the identity theft or the creation of fake companies to capture pensions.

With a spectacular result: their 14,000 checks made it possible to detect 69.4 million euros of sums unduly affected, of which 58% were fraudulent. “These phenomena of organized gang fraud are to the detriment of recipients and undermine national solidarity”, regrets Nicolas Grivel to the weekly.