Man Convicted of $31,000 Disability Benefit Fraud While Living Abroad

A beneficiary of a disability allowance, the man from Cambrai had left his residence for a vacation in Morocco before settling there. He continued to receive his allowance, as he had given the address of his 65-year-old mother in Cambrai, reports La Voix du Nord. He would have received €28,892 from January 2, 2019 to June 28, 2022. A tax fraud for which he was tried by the Cambrai court.

During his trial, this divorced man, who lost his job and married in Morocco, claims he did not plan to stay in the kingdom. According to his explanations, he did not know that he had to stay in France to receive the disability allowance. Arguments that are far from convincing the CAF lawyer who claims the opposite. To support her argument, she argues that the defendant "incited his mother to make a false declaration of accommodation."

"The problem is the duration of this fraud which concerns money coming from social benefits," estimates the prosecutor. The verdict is in: the man from Cambrai is sentenced to ten months of probationary suspension over a period of two years with a deprivation of civil rights for one year. His mother is given five months of simple suspension for complicity in fraud. The court also ordered them to repay €28,892 to the CAF.