Overview

• Officials recorded 421 cases of “bandenmäßigem Leistungsmissbrauch” in 2024, up from 229 in 2023, with 209 criminal charges filed.
• Published data cover only 300 jointly run Jobcenters while the government warns of a substantial dark figure of unrecorded fraud.
• Lutz Mania of Jobcenter Berlin-Mitte describes how rings recruit mainly Bulgarian and Romanian nationals under fake employment contracts to divert wages and Bürgergeld.
• Detection of organized fraud remains largely accidental because social, financial and security authorities lack integrated data systems.
• Coalition partners finalised Grundsicherung reform legislation on July 2 to mandate full inter-agency data exchange and strengthen the Zoll’s FKS enforcement.