Nearly 900,000 retirees from Agirc-Arrco – manager of private supplementary pensions – live abroad, the majority of whom are in North Africa. Algeria alone accounts for almost a third of the beneficiaries outside France, or more than 300,000 people. To verify that these pensions are paid to living beneficiaries, the Agirc-Arrco federation has chosen to delegate physical controls to a local banking service provider.
Banking controls on the ground
This bank, selected following a public market, will summon around 60,000 Algerian retirees to its counter each year to attest to their presence and identity. Those absent will have their pension suspended. According to the Court of Auditors, this method will make it possible to control all retirees living in Algeria over a period of six years.
The first tests carried out between 2020 and 2023 in Morocco and Algeria were considered convincing: for one euro spent, they made it possible to identify or avoid between 12 and 30 euros of fraud. Nearly 40% of the retirees summoned did not show up on time, leading to suspensions of payments. In certain cases, the checks made it possible to detect deaths that had not been declared for several months.
The Court of Auditors welcomes these efforts but invites the schemes to closely monitor their service providers. “ Partners, like a local authority, can be accomplices or victims of an intention to defraud », Underlines the report which dates back to May. Regular audits must therefore be carried out to guarantee the reliability of operations carried out by banks and avoid any laxity in verifying identities.
As for the general system, the National Old Age Insurance Fund (Cnav) is not left out. Its general director, Renaud Villard, assured Franceinfo that several measures are already in place: two agents are now assigned to the Algiers consulate to verify certificates of existence on site, and biometric facial recognition is being deployed. “ It was generalized from September 2024 “, he specifies. “ It’s sometimes a bit of a shock for an 85-year-old retiree to use his smartphone to film himself, but we rely heavily on this technology ».
Cnav, which estimates fraud at around 50 to 60 million euros per year, estimates that these devices will improve the reliability of the system without fixing everything. “ The symbol is very important, because we ask efforts from our fellow citizens; Faced with this, we must be intractable with those who try to defraud », insists Renaud Villard.
The fight against pension fraud paid abroad will not make up for the abysmal Social Security deficit, estimated at 15 billion euros. But this helps restore confidence in institutions. By entrusting part of the controls to a bank, Agirc-Arrco goes very far in hunting down fraudsters. Too far?
🟣 To not miss any news on the WorldOfSoftware, subscribe on Google News and on our WhatsApp. And if you love us, .
