New Criminal Investigation into Benefit Fraud from Bulgaria Sparks Concerns

The tax investigation service FIOD has started a criminal investigation into a possible new abuse of benefits from Bulgaria. The investigation comes after a series of reports received by the Welfare Department from government agencies. “These often involve people from abroad, especially from Bulgaria,” writing Secretary of State De Vries (Benefits) in a letter to Parliament NRC reported about.

The signals received indicate widespread fraud that may exist in an organized context, De Vries explains. To get the benefits, those involved are said to have made false entries in the Personal Records Database (BRP). It is also alleged that they misused DigiDs and were guilty of address or identity fraud “resulting in abuse of privileges”.

One of the indicators came from the Logius group, the service that manages digital government services. Logius reported users logging in with multiple DigiDs from specific IP addresses. This would include nearly 2,000 unique BSN numbers, according to De Vries.

According to the Secretary of State, most of these high-profile users had already been seen by the Department of Welfare before Logius reported it. “These allocations have been stopped following a legal investigation, but part of the progress has already been made.” Some of the files have been transferred to the FIOD, which is now under criminal investigation.

Two cities recently raised the alarm with the Welfare Service, part of the Ministry of Finance, about incorrect registrations and suspected fraudulent rental contracts. In addition, there have been reports of using intermediaries or “sharing step-by-step plans on social media about ways to falsely claim benefits while not living in the Netherlands ,” De Vries writes.

More than ten years ago, a massive welfare fraud by a Bulgarian organization came to light. Criminals encouraged Bulgarians to register in the Netherlands, collect benefits and then return to Bulgaria.

The fraud case, which cost the Dutch government millions of euros, was one of the reasons for tougher rules and a tougher attitude from the tax authorities. The tax authorities’ tougher working methods contributed to the allowance issue, in which thousands of parents had to pay back large sums of childcare allowance wrongly received. This recovery caused the distraught parents great difficulties.