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In Belgium, Social Security fraud directly affects public bodies. But also companies that have to deal with social, medical or administrative files on a daily basis.
Behind every proven fraud, the same observation: apparently compliant documents, consistent information on the surface and controls that arrive too late. In this article, Finovox explains how to effectively characterize Social Security fraud, in a context where documentary fraud has become extremely accessible, and is constantly growing.
What is Social Security fraud?
In Belgium, Social Security fraud is defined by the Criminal Code as “any violation of a social law that falls under the jurisdiction of the federal authority”. Clearly, Belgian Social Security fraud is behavior that aims to take undue advantage of the social system, by violating the rules established by law.
This includes, for example, false declaration, the absence of declaration in the event of a change in situation, or even the fraudulent obtaining of a Social Security number.
Of course, Social Security fraud does not only cause administrative irregularities. They also affect:
- The collection of contributions
- the payment of social benefits
- and the integrity of the Belgian social protection system as a whole.
For the organizations, businesses and individuals involved, the consequences are both financial, organizational and criminal.
How is Social Security fraud characterized in Belgium?
Social Security fraud in Belgium covers a wide range of mechanisms and benefits. Fraudsters target various benefits, such as unemployment benefits, health benefits or professional and various reimbursements.
What does social fraud look like in Belgium?
In Belgium, the social fraud may concern significant amounts, organized networks, or even structured professional behaviors. It occurs in various forms:
- misrepresentations
- double affiliations
- hidden work
- false certificates
- etc.
The coveted benefits may be individual: unemployment benefits, health benefits, employment benefits. But some types of fraud also involve broader mechanisms.
According to the annual report on the fight against social fraud in Belgium, a total of 137,796 investigations would have been closed by social inspections in 2024. Of which 8,723 related to social dumping.
Namely: Social dumping (or less-social distance) is an illegal practice that consists in paying employees under conditions below the legal minimum, or in not properly declaring their activity to reduce social security contributions.
An example of recent fraud, which is causing a reaction in Belgium
Recent news reveals how costly, but also spectacular, Social Security fraud can be for the community. In Belgium, an independent nurse, Stefanie Sander, also a local elected official, is accused of having exploited the system of reimbursement of health benefits to obtain very large sums over several years.
According to several surveys, this health professional would have declared up to 90 benefits per day. Whereas the realistic average for a home nurse is between 15 and 20 daily interventions.
This practice would have allowed Stefanie Sander to bill fictitious care to theNational Institute of Health and Disability Insurance (INAMI). Investigators also seized 17 luxury cars from the suspect's home when she was arrested on November 17, 2025.
This Belgian case highlights a very specific social fraud technique: the repeated billing of services not provided, or artificially inflated, by a health professional. This type of fraud is all the more worrying as it erodes confidence in the healthcare reimbursement system and overloads Social Security systems, which are already under pressure.
The case also revives the debates around the strengthening of controls. With the establishment of billing ceilings, the primary objective of which would be to identify abnormally high patterns.
Why is social fraud in Belgium difficult to detect?
Identifying Social Security fraud is not easy. Some go unnoticed for years, because they exploit administrative flaws or control systems that are still too fragmented.
In addition, the volumes of files processed daily by public bodies, mutual insurance companies or employers are extremely high. This limits the ability to check every bill, refund, and certificate.
Some fraud methods rely on repeated microamounts or subtle adjustments in returns. Others exploit temporary shortcomings in coordination between administrations and social systems. And that escapes traditional automated systems.
Additional difficulty: Some scams are not isolated and are organized across a network or company.
Identifying a recurring pattern therefore requires not only an informed human eye, but also tools capable of analyzing data on a large scale, cross-referencing information and detecting statistical or behavioral anomalies.
The signals that should alert you
According to The Finovox survey Since document fraud in Belgium occurred in 2024, 51% of Belgian citizens believe that it is easier to commit fraud today than it was a few years ago. And when it comes to Social Security fraud, there are some signals that should get your attention right away.
Here is an exhaustive list:
- missing or incomplete documents
- inconsistent information
- frequent changes in contact details or declarations
- documents that seem too perfect, too complete, or standardized
- or on the contrary, visible alterations
- repeated or unusual reimbursements, for identical benefits.
Suspicious behavior on the part of health professionals, employers or administrative third parties must also be considered carefully (unusual requests for payment, file changes, etc.).
To note: proven fraud may be the subject of a report or a report to theanti-fraud organization concerned.
How to quickly identify an attempt at Social Security fraud?
Unfortunately, manual and “naked eye” checks have become insufficient. However, companies and public bodies in Belgium have the possibility of equipping themselves with anti-fraud technology, in order to quickly detect any attempt at fraud with Social Security.
Finovox is one, and it has already been adopted by various actors who wanted to automate their fraud detection processes. Among other things, the tool makes it possible to significantly improve the performance of controls by quickly identifying documentary irregularities... Before they result in financial losses or disputes.
The software solution automates and accelerates the analysis of declarations, certificates and certificates submitted by professionals and individuals. Each document is scanned, compared and cross-referenced with reliable databases in order to detect and explain the slightest anomaly.
Control procedures are accelerated, fraud is detected, and the document flow is secure!
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