Non-European banks, access to assets, medical transport... Minister Catherine Vautrin unveils the outlines of the bill on social fraud estimated at 13 billion euros per year
“Social fraud is a betrayal.” Catherine Vautrin, Minister of Labor, outlined several proposals that will be included in the bill against social fraud, in an interview with Le Parisien on Saturday, August 2.
According to a report published in September 2024 by the High Council of Public Finances, this social fraud is estimated at 13 billion euros per year while the amount of fraud detected and stopped is 2.1 billion euros.
“This text will also include measures to combat tax fraud,” the minister told Le Parisien, while the estimated amount of tax fraud is between 60 and 80 billion euros, compared to 16.7 billion euros detected. […]
In early July, a taxi driver was sentenced to 30 months in prison for fraud and money laundering against primary health insurance funds in Bouches-du-Rhône. The suspect had billed social security for €2.3 million in fictitious medical transport between 2019 and 2024. To prevent further cases, Catherine Vautrin announced that she wants to “require carriers to equip themselves with a geolocation system and an integrated electronic invoicing system.”
Among other announcements, the fight will intensify on bank accounts located outside the European Union, into which unemployment insurance can no longer be paid, according to the plan established by the minister.
At the same time, while businesses and self-employed workers represent the primary category for social fraud, the minister intends to prevent businesses that engage in undeclared work from being able to "organize their insolvency" by blocking their bank accounts "during the control period."
Finally, "in the same way that the Ministry of the Economy taxes traffickers on the quantities of drugs seized, we will also tax them more," announced Ms. Vautrin. The text would thus increase the CSG (general social contribution) collected for illicit activity with a rate of 45%. […]
Fdesouche
