Social benefits fraud may be very high

2026-07-13 09:15:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

According to the German government, at least 110,000 cases were recorded in 2025 in which social benefits were illegally obtained. It is believed that this figure represents only the tip of the iceberg.

The 110,000 cases of social fraud that have been mentioned in the media in Germany do not reflect the entire situation, as it is assumed that there is a "high number of unregistered cases". This is what the German newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" quotes a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Labor. "The misuse of social benefits often remains undetected because the various responsible institutions are not interconnected or do not cooperate sufficiently with each other", the report further states.

Growing trend

According to official data, the employment centers (Jobcenter) initiated almost 134 thousand investigative procedures last year. In about 110 thousand cases, suspicions were confirmed or criminal charges were filed due to well-founded suspicions. This represents 6.8 percent more cases of misuse of social benefits, or suspicions of such misuse, compared to the previous year. The registered cases also include administrative violations.

According to the German Ministry of Labor, the financial damage from social benefit fraud cannot be determined with precision. The reason is that neither the Ministry of Labor nor the Ministry of the Interior have "structured data that would enable the amount of financial damage to be calculated," the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported.

"There are mafia structures that we must destroy"

Federal Labor Minister Bärbel Bas recently announced that stricter action will be taken against the misuse of social benefits and against organized criminal structures that operate in this area. "There are mafia structures that we must destroy," the SPD politician declared.

To combat social benefit fraud more effectively, the federal government plans to improve data exchange between the responsible institutions. It is also planned to regulate access to social benefits for EU citizens more strictly.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently promised an initiative to combat the misuse of social benefits. According to the CDU leader, an "Action Plan to Combat the Abuse of Social Benefits" will be presented later this month. For many local politicians across Germany, this is an issue of particular importance. "We are taking this problem seriously and we are keeping our promises," the chancellor declared.

In mid-June, a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Labor announced the creation of a special competence center at the Federal Labor Agency, which will aim to reduce abuse of social benefits. This is also one of the main objectives of the new basic social security scheme, which will replace the current Bürgergeld system. For the approximately 5.5 million beneficiaries, this means stricter obligations to cooperate with the authorities and tougher sanctions in cases of violations./ DW