Varese, Citizenship Income and Fraud: 330 Euros Unduly Received and 29 Reports

The activity of the Finance Police of the Provincial Command of Varese continues contrast of the undue perception of the citizen's income who have identified several cases of illicit perception by individuals residing in the Varese area and in the neighbouring municipalities of Luino, Cantello, Gallarate, Busto Arsizio and Saronno.

In particular, the Varese Economic and Financial Police has carried out, by systematizing the important information heritage available, targeted investigative investigations, on the basis of certain risk indicators, in line with the institutional mission of the Guardia di Finanza, namely vigilance, among others, on State and European Union budget expenditure.

The investigations initially allowed us to denounce to the Judicial Authority 12 subjects, recipients of the aforementioned income support measure, the failure and/or false communication to INPS regarding their financial and income situation, including the start of work activities carried out in the neighbouring Swiss Confederation.

In one case, moreover, it was found that an entrepreneur, sole shareholder and director of an LLC operating in the construction sector, through accounting tricks, has failed to declare income in order to maintain the provision of the measure.

In addition to the above cases, there are also those of some individuals holding gaming accounts that, through the failure to indicate in the Single Substitutive Declaration (DSU) the income deriving from winnings from "play online“, provided false information about their income status, continuing to unduly receive the subsidy.

In fact, some beneficiaries of the RdC have been found online gaming account holders, used assiduously to place bets on sporting events, as well as to take part in poker tournaments or other table gamesIn some cases, sums of money amounting to hundreds of thousands of euros were credited to these gaming accounts, clearly incompatible with a state of economic indigence.

In this sense, the Guardia di Finanza of the Provincial Command of Varese, once the group of players, operationally called "inconsistent players“, acted in compliance with the recent ruling of the Constitutional Court n. 54 of 2024 which establishes that “gambling winnings” constitute information to be considered in order to access the measure. The Consulta has in fact affirmed that the Citizen's Income is "structured in such a way as not to be able to help people who, by virtue of gross gambling winnings achieved in the period preceding the request, exceed the income thresholds for access“. The game, in fact, takes on the character of a “luxury spending""and it cannot be expected that public solidarity will take on an expense of this kind", especially since the Consulta with its own note of March 2024 he specified that "the Rdc regulation expressly prohibits the use of its proceeds for gambling".

Overall, the investigations carried out have allowed us to ascertain amounts unduly received by the 29 subjects reported, over 330.000 euros. The responsible parties were also: reported to INPS for the recovery of sums unduly requested and obtained.

The service activity demonstrates the role of the Guardia di Finanza in combating fraud in the social security and welfare sector, confirming the commitment to guarantee effective support to the weakest sections of the population, avoiding wasting resources for the benefit of individuals who are not entitled to them.