450 million euros: 20% increase in family allowance fraud detections in 2024

Detections of family allowance fraud increased by 20% in 2024 compared to the previous year, representing €450 million, Nicolas Grivel, director of the National Family Allowance Fund (CNAF) , announced to La Tribune on Sunday.

This 20% increase compared to the previous year, "which was already a record", "does not mean that beneficiaries are committing fraud more than before, but that we have improved our monitoring capacity", specifies the director, referring to more than "30 million checks" carried out in 2024.

"80% of the sums" are recovered, he adds, while the estimated social fraud "does not exceed 3% of the amounts paid by the Caf" whose benefits amount to "around 100 billion" each year.

"Traditional fraud is individual," he explains, "with a beneficiary withholding certain information to obtain a higher benefit, not declaring all of their resources, or not mentioning that they are in a relationship."

It can also involve "residency fraud": while to receive benefits, you have to live in the country for at least nine months a year, some people do not say they are abroad, he explains.

The director of the CNAF nevertheless observes "a rise in organized fraud," through "networks that go well beyond individuals alone" and of which "beneficiaries can be the first victims": (identity theft, "European micro-entrepreneurs who declare work that does not exist," paid advice on social networks to obtain aid, etc.).

In case of fraud, the person must return the money with a 10% penalty and in the most serious cases, the penalty is criminal, insists Mr. Grivel.