Japan Struggles to Reclaim Fraudulently Obtained Welfare Benefits
Local authorities in Japan are struggling to recover fraudulently obtained welfare benefits and they are forced to book some payments as losses, a government survey showed on Friday.
Welfare benefits received through false income reports and other misconduct between fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2012 totaled 5.8 billion yen at 102 municipal welfare offices surveyed, or nearly 10 pct of all such offices in the country, according to the internal affairs ministry.
Of the total amount, the surveyed offices successfully reclaimed 1.4 billion yen, or 24 pct. They gave up recovering 940 million yen worth of benefits and booked them as losses.