The Swedish Pensions Agency paid out SEK 388 billion last year.

It is most of all paying authorities.

At the same time, the authority's control activities show that incorrect payments are a major problem.

- It is a big challenge for society.

No one thinks it is good if money goes to the wrong people, says Lisa Nordenhäll, unit manager for the control unit at the Swedish Pensions Agency.

Control of double pensions

Recently, a targeted check was made regarding unannounced foreign pensions.

Pension money from other countries affects the Swedish pension.

It turned out that the payments were based on incorrect information in more than half of the cases - because the Swedish Pensions Agency did not know about the foreign pension.

- It is a fairly large proportion.

I can imagine that the problem is general, no matter which country you look at, you will probably find errors, says Lisa Nordenhäll.

116 police reports

Carelessness and ignorance are behind the largest proportion of errors detected by the authority.

A majority of the recoveries are linked to housing supplement, where the pensioner has provided incorrect information or not notified housing changes.

Even there, errors were discovered in more than half of the cases during an examination.

- Most people want to do the right thing for themselves.

What you need to keep in mind is to always announce changed information so that it is correct, says Lisa Nordenhäll.

But the deliberate cheating is also extensive.

Last year, it was a matter of recovering SEK 37 million in cases where there was a suspicion of crime.

In addition, the authority made police reports in 116 cases, which is a doubling from 2018.

Mapping criminal connections

Welfare fraud is described as an important source of income for organized crime and the government has invested hundreds of millions in the various authorities' control activities.

The Swedish Pensions Agency is now mapping out whether the pension system is being used by serious criminals.

- We see cases where there is a suspicion of intent and it can not be ruled out that there are links to organized crime, says Lisa Nordenhäll.

What do you think we should review?

Tip SVT's reviewing reporters.