Gang criminals and their families are active both as representatives and personal assistants while being criminally active, according to the investigation from the joint authority initiative against organized crime.
The report is based on a large number of cross-checks of authority data, where payments from the Social Insurance Agency to approximately 62,000 individuals have been examined.
This group has, according to a police report last year, been estimated to be either active in criminal networks (around 14,000 individuals) or have connections to the networks, so-called "linked individuals" (around 48,000 individuals). The majority of the linked individuals are estimated to engage in criminal activity, often drug trafficking.
Four out of ten in contact
The report shows, among other things, that four out of ten users have come into contact with personal assistants who are either linked to or active in organized crime.
The analysis also shows that all 62 largest assistance companies during the period 2022-2023 had personal assistants who were "active" or "linked". On average, 22 such individuals worked as assistants at the companies.
According to the analysis, the groups "active" and "linked" and their close family members "show signs of more widespread abuse of social insurance compared to a normal population". This group has simultaneously nearly 350 million in debts to the Social Insurance Agency.
Individuals from organized crime are both overrepresented in working as personal assistants and in the authorities' controls of personal assistants suspected of abuse, the analysis further shows.
"Based on the already known problem picture with crime within assistance benefits, this should be seen as very serious", it is written in the report.
Vulnerable individuals are mistreated
The presence of organized crime within the assistance industry has consequences for both users and society, according to the analysis. This leads, among other things, to vulnerable individuals being mistreated and "people with disabilities being used as tools for crime". Not infrequently, it is according to the Social Insurance Agency children who are affected.
Furthermore, users risk receiving inadequate or no assistance as a consequence of the exploitation. Additionally, a "white job" as a personal assistant can provide opportunities for individuals "to abuse various benefits within social insurance", according to the report.
Since 2009, government agencies have collaborated with intelligence and operational efforts against criminal individuals, networks, and phenomena in an initiative against organized crime.
14 authorities participate in the initiative, which is carried out on behalf of the government. These are the Employment Agency, the Economic Crime Authority, the Social Insurance Agency, the Prison and Probation Service, the Enforcement Authority, the Coast Guard, the Migration Agency, the Pensions Agency, the Police Authority, the Tax Agency, the Security Service, the Customs Agency, the Payment Agency, and the Prosecution Authority.
12 "network authorities" also participate through information exchange, strategic collaboration, and participation in certain efforts.
