Citizens' money: Mafious fraud structures in Duisburg and Berlin uncovered!
Citizens' money: Mafious fraud structures in Duisburg and Berlin uncovered!
In the past few months, reports on social fraud in connection with the citizens' benefit in Germany have been increasing. The situation in cities such as Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen and Berlin is particularly alarming, where criminal structures, often with roots in South and Eastern Europe, have specialized in using migrants. These people are often held in precarious employment relationships and receive support, while the fraud systems are actively branched off the state funds behind the scenes, such as the Merkur reported.
and social minister Bärbel BAS (SPD) speaks of “mafia structures” that enable criminals to get civil allowance through fake registrations with social security as well as manipulated rental and employment contracts. Above all, children who are entitled to higher benefits are affected.
causes and problem of abuse
The fraud mechanisms are diverse. Migrants from other EU countries often take advantage of their freedom of movement in order to engage in Germany in the social welfare system. These practices mean that the social security funds are heavily burdened, while the job centers have to deal with a high level of control and lack of staff. The recent cuts in 2024 and 2025 have not improved the situation because they further restrict the funds for integration into work and the administrative costs of the job centers.
Another challenge is the lack of nationwide recording of the fraud cases by the Federal Ministry of Labor. The job centers therefore urgently call for automatic data comparison between different authorities and an electronic payment of wages in order to counteract this abuse. These claims are supported by BAS, which insisted on urgently needed better data exchange and a review of the entitlement authorizations.
planned reforms of civil allowance
In order to contain this abuse, Bas reforms of the citizens' allowance has promised. A renaming the population allowance is also planned. Although the basic structures are to be maintained, the federal government plans faster sanctions and adaptation to price development. It is important that households cannot be fully punished with children. In addition, there should be an obligation to cooperate for all beneficiaries that could be an important step in the right direction.
BAS would like to evaluate results from studies and reports this year and present suggestions for further procedures. To counteract the negative trends is a central goal of their reform policy in order to make the citizenship money more effective in the future and at the same time guarantee the subsistence level of citizens. The discussion about the citizenship benefit and the associated reforms will remain highly exciting in the coming months, as will also be noted DetailsOrt Duisburg, Deutschland Quellen