Controls in the eastern region: 180 people illegally received social benefits – Austria

Unreported stays abroad with simultaneous consumption of Austrian social benefits were found in 180 people during the focus week in the Eastern District. The Federal Ministry of Finance reported that in the six days of monitoring activities at the border crossings in the Eastern District and at Vienna-Schwechat Airport, a total of 859 people were screened from entry and exit as well as 315 companies for company vehicles.

The said measure was carried out under the command of the Eastern Financial Police, responsible for the Burgenland region and Lower Austria, until Friday, July 30. It said on Tuesday’s broadcast that 180 welfare recipients who did not register their trips abroad with AMS now have to retroactively pay their wrongly-earned benefits up to three years, and should expect additional heavy fines. In addition, €28,600 of open taxes and other fees were seized on site.

“Cross-border social security fraud appears to have a system and we have essentially been able to recruit fraudsters in a few countries,” Finance Minister Gernot Blumel and Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (both ÖVP) said in a joint statement. Accordingly, social benefit recipients came from Austria, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt and Syria.

The Ministry of Finance was working through the Financial Police with 100 employees and employees of the Austrian customs office. The Ministry of the Interior and the Police provided 84 emergency services. In addition, controls were supported by the Office of the Provincial Government of Lower Austria, AMS Lower Austria, the Austrian Health Fund, and the Pension Insurance with 13 employees.