Gang criminals everywhere – including in Swedish welfare
25 April 2025
Imagine hiring a social worker for your relative to help with the cooking or groceries. And the mafia boss shows up to bring them their potatoes.
That's what's happening with the Swedish care assistance industry, which is swarming with gang criminals and their family members. More precisely, the 62 largest care assistance companies in Sweden have employees with links to organised crime, according to a government report revealed earlier this week. These 'linked individuals' are either active members or people associated with gang networks.
The analysis shows that between 2022 and 2023, the criminals abused the welfare system through assistance payments, with a total of over SEK 300 million (over €2.7 million) in debts to the Social Insurance Agency.
Even more worryingly, this means that four out of ten people who used assistance services have come into contact with personal assistants who are linked to or active in organised crime.
On the surface, the providers often seem legitimate, with accurate accounting and good finances. Yet, they engage in a variety of criminal activities, from not providing the promised assistance, to forcing employees to repay their wages, and even forging documents from doctors and other care professionals.
 | Amélie Reichmuth How did it come to this? In recent years, gang crime has been taking hold of Sweden, with an open gang war leading to regular bombings and contract killings. Yet, what is now becoming more visible is the extent to which these criminal networks have infiltrated Swedish society. "The care assistance industry is particularly vulnerable because it is possible to make very large sums of money if assistance companies are used to commit crimes," according to Sara Persson, crime prevention specialist at the Swedish Economic Crime Authority. In reaction to the report, the Swedish government set up an investigation into so-called 'welfare offences in personal assistance', and the results will be presented by 8 January 2027. |
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