Around 23,000 control investigations were carried out across the country last year. In total, the investigations resulted in refunds and prevented incorrect payments to a sum of approximately SEK 2.2 billion, according to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency.
– 2023 was a record year for recoveries and prevented incorrect payments. It increases slightly from year to year. It is a bit difficult to say what it is due to, says Oscar Oscarsson, area manager at Försäkringskassan.
The most common suspected fraud concerns allowances such as temporary parental allowance, parental allowance, housing allowance and sickness allowance.
– It is a matter of those allowances being the largest and used by many. But sometimes there are accidental errors and then we issue a refund instead, says Oscar Oscarsson.
“Looking at systematics”
Approximately 25 percent of the investigations conducted by the Social Insurance Agency lead to a police report.
– We are looking into whether there is any systematicity in the information that has been provided or some other arrangement that we suspect is a criminal intent, says Oscar Oscarsson.
– We work with the entire spectrum, from careless mistakes to grossly criminalized crime.
Last year, Försäkringskassan in Västerbotten carried out 334 control investigations. The investigations resulted in refunds and prevented incorrect payments to a sum of approximately SEK 28 million. Based on these investigations, Försäkringskassan also made 71 police reports.
– We report to the police in cases where we judge that it is with criminal intent that the insured provided incorrect information, says Oscar Oscarsson, area manager of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency’s control unit Northern Sweden.