Croatia is a country that is not even capable of counting how many of its citizens have gone abroad in search of a better life. And when it is unknown how many people, including entire families, have emigrated, even less is known about who has left. Jutarnji found some of them on the Facebook page ‘We Are Going to Ireland’, boasting – under their full name – that they are also receiving unemployment benefits in Ireland! However, they do not travel to Croatia every month for the benefits (it used to be mandatory to report monthly to the HZZ, but now this is done by phone or email).
But the money is easily deposited into their accounts. For example, it helps them pay off loans. New emigrants, who often declare themselves as members of a lost generation, usually claim they left due to a lack of prospects, disappointed that their country does not allow them to live off their work. But they will cheat that state and take undeserved pocket money. Of course, they will not cheat the bank or the host country. So much for morality. Here is more about state incompetence. The Employment Service responds that their officials monitor social networks, but they do not answer how many fraudsters the army of Ante Lončar, consisting of 1200 HZZ employees, has managed to catch.
