Over 500 benefit fraud cases investigated in 2024

The FNS (National Solidarity Fund) investigated 545 cases of suspected fraud related to the Revenu d’Inclusion Sociale (known as Revis) in 2024, according to the agency’s annual report.

Last year, investigators took 27 complaints to Luxembourg courts for claims amounting to a total of €1.44 million, said the FNS report, which was published earlier this month.

The Revis fraud enforcement unit conducts in-depth administrative investigations, the report publish this month said, as well as home visits in the fight against fraud and to verify the conditions for granting support.

FNS investigations are carried out alongside partner agencies like national employment service Adem, and the labour and mines inspectorate, the ITM.

Fraud enforcement unit staff often have to visit benefit recipients’ homes several times before they can conclude their investigations, the FNS annual report said. In addition to these checks, the FNS is also called in for interviews on occasion.

Home checks between 06:30 and 20:00

FNS investigators can visit the homes of suspected benefit cheats between 06:30 and 20:00. In 2024, 1,659 home visits were made to Revis beneficiaries, including second visits to the addresses of claimants who were not home first time round.

Revis home visits also include medical examinations for beneficiaries who are not registered with Adem. The reason being that registration with the job agency is usually a prerequisite for Revis acceptance – except on health grounds.

Another requirement for receiving Revis is regular and continuous presence in Luxembourg, which is why beneficiaries are sometimes called to appear in person at FNS offices. “This verification became useful after we realised that a considerable number of beneficiaries regularly stayed abroad despite being registered in a Luxembourg municipality,” the report said. Visits to FNS counters are therefore used to monitor trips abroad, which are supposed to be limited to 35 days a year.

It should be noted that, since the beginning of the Covid crisis, the FNS has stopped issuing systematic calls to appear, instead doing so only on an ad-hoc basis.

(This article first appeared in Contacto. Translation and editing by Alex Stevensson.)