Fake sick leave fraud: 450 cyberinvestigators soon to be mobilized

Doctor identity theft, scams of all kinds… For several years now, social networks have become more and more like a hub for social fraud

Fake sick leave fraud: 450 cyberinvestigators soon to be mobilized

Doctor identity theft, scams of all kinds… For several years now, social networks have become more and more like a hub for social fraud. For 20 to 70 euros, Internet users can quickly find a stop of 1 to 10 days, as Le Parisien reveals this Tuesday, May 30. An illegal business that would cost nearly 3.4 million euros to social security each year.

To fight against this massive scourge, Gabriel Attal wants to invest in tracking down fraudsters on the Internet. In unveiling his plan to fight against social aid fraud, the Minister of Public Accounts announces major recruitments. "To fight against online social fraud, we are going to train 450 cyberinvestigators at Health Insurance," he explains in an interview with our colleagues. The latest finance law allows the attribution of cyber investigation powers to agents of the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM). With the prerogatives, for example, of being able to pretend to be fake buyers of certificates in order to confuse sellers.

The Minister figures the cost of sick leave fraud at 30 million over the previous five-year period. “This fraud probably costs a lot more and an assessment is underway. Without delay, we are launching a national control plan to identify false declarations. Professionals who prescribe a very high number of work stoppages compared to the average will be targeted, and false work stoppages sold for a few tens of euros on social networks, such as Snapchat, "he explains.

Health Insurance has meanwhile announced that it wants to monitor in particular "iterative short-term stoppages" by means of "early checks of work stoppages for two frequent reasons: dorso-lumbalgia and stops for depressive syndromes and / or anxiety ".