Swedes face scrutiny as welfare net frays / Cheats prove to be rife in Swedish welfare system

People claiming welfare benefits in Sweden are facing the possibility of in-depth checks after official data showed that a growing number of Swedes are cheating the country's famously generous system out of billions of dollars a year.

The Delegation Against Benefit Fraud and Errors, a government agency, revealed October 2007 that up to 6 per cent of social payments are the result of fraud or other types of abuse - far higher than previously thought. This would be the equivalent of SKr30bn (£2.3bn) in 2006.