Hungarians receive 57,000 euros in social benefits despite living outside of Austria
The police in Austria uncovered a case of fraud involving social assistance in which three men of Hungarian nationality are suspected of having received tens of thousands of euros in aid despite actually residing outside the country. According to the Austrian news agency APA, the three suspects are aged between 73 and 74 years and are suspected of providing false information about their place of residence.
Investigations indicate that the men registered a fictitious main residence address in the town of Breitenstein in the Neunkirchen district of Lower Austria. However, evidence showed that they did not actually live at this address, but were permanently residing in Hungary.
Through this fictitious address, two of the defendants managed to obtain approximately 57,600 euros from the compensatory budget payments provided by the Social Insurance Institution for the Self-Employed SVS, while the situation for the third defendant remained at the attempt stage according to the police announcement.
The case was revealed by the special investigation unit for social assistance fraud SOLBE of the police station in Gloggnitz, where investigations led to the discovery of numerous indicators proving that the registered residence in Austria was not actually used.
One of the most prominent pieces of evidence discovered by investigators is that the registered house did not actually have a water connection, in addition to the fact that its electricity consumption was extremely low, indicating that the place was not actually inhabited.
Authorities also discovered a mail forwarding service to Hungary, which reinforced suspicions that the defendants reside outside Austria. Investigations also showed that the defendants have additional residential addresses in Germany, Sweden, and Slovakia.
The police also linked several cars with German license plates to the suspects, which reinforced the hypothesis that they were spending most of their time outside Austrian territory.
During the investigations, the police seized several forged documents suspected to be used in the fraud operation. It was also revealed that one of the defendants, aged 73, asked a resident of the town of Breitenau to help him conceal the source of the messages coming from Hungary by placing them in new envelopes and sending them from Gloggnitz.
During the interrogation, one of the defendants admitted to the scheme and acknowledged that he had agreed with the other two men to register a fictitious address in Austria to obtain financial assistance.
One of the defendants has already returned part of the money, as he transferred an amount of 18,000 euros to the SVS institution on March 6, 2026, to compensate for part of the financial damage. In contrast, none of the other defendants appeared before the authorities despite being summoned twice, and his whereabouts remain unknown.
Two of the defendants filed a lawsuit before the Wiener Neustadt court after the SVS institution decided to suspend payments. The complete file was eventually referred to the public prosecutor's office in Vienna to complete the legal proceedings.