New case in Tyrol

Welfare fraud amounting to millions uncovered

60,000 euros ended up illegally in the hands of the fraudster.

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The SOLBE (social benefit fraud) task force of the Tyrolean police has struck again: it has uncovered a masseur (46) who collected unemployment benefit and rent subsidy despite his income. In recent years, similar scams involving losses running into millions have come to light.

It was a tip-off that set the investigations of the SOLBE task force of the Aliens and Border Police Department of the Tyrolean police in motion. And they were ultimately very successful.

They put a 46-year-old man from Innsbruck with a migration background out of business. The man had fooled the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK), the Public Employment Service (AMS) and the City of Innsbruck for years by illegally collecting social benefits.

Serious commercial social benefits fraud
As it turned out, the 46-year-old masseur illegally received social benefits totaling around 60,000 euros between summer 2021 and April 2024. He is suspected of serious commercial social benefit fraud and has been reported to the public prosecutor's office in Innsbruck.

We meet regularly with representatives of the agencies that pay out social benefits and have a lively exchange with them.

Herbert Kindlhofer, Task Force SOLBE

The brazen man had registered the massage business as dormant and at the same time received unemployment benefits for training and further education. "He concealed the fact that he was still working and earning well above the permitted marginal earnings threshold," explains Herbert Kindlhofer from the SOLBE task force. 

Invoices issued as a masseur
The income resulted from working as a self-employed masseur in a hotel in Innsbruck. The crook issued invoices for this - without reporting the income. According to the police, the Innsbruck man thus obtained around 53,000 euros.

Illegally collecting sick pay
The masseur is also suspected of having received additional sick pay of around 5600 euros when reporting sick. And as a kind of bonus, he also applied for - and received - a rent subsidy of 1,600 euros during the period of the crime, which lasted several years. He was also not entitled to this because of his income.

Fraud difficult to recognize at first glance
"The SOLBE task force has already uncovered fraud involving millions of euros in Tyrol," explains Herbert Kindlhofer. "We meet regularly with representatives of the agencies that pay out social benefits and have a lively exchange with them." Such fraud is often not recognizable at first glance. "You have to put many pieces of the puzzle together during the investigation."