Kazakhstan exposes $1.2B social security fraud targeting pregnant women
A major crackdown on social security fraud in Kazakhstan has uncovered large-scale embezzlement schemes. Investigations revealed that criminals falsified records to steal over 1.2 billion tenge from state social security programmes. Several officials and organisers now face prison sentences for their roles in the scams.
Between 2024 and 2025, the Agency for Financial Monitoring (AFM) carried out 13 pre-trial investigations into fraudulent social security schemes. The scams involved adding trusted individuals to recipient lists, processing fake payment orders, and splitting the stolen funds among accomplices. One common method was falsely registering pregnant women under shell individual entrepreneurs (IEs) and backdating exaggerated social and pension contributions.
In Aktobe Region, two womenâUmerbekova and Baimurzaevaâreceived six-year prison terms for embezzling 487 million tenge. They had fraudulently enrolled 70 pregnant women to claim healthy pregnancy benefits illegally. Another case in Shymkent saw Dusenova sentenced to five years for a similar crime, causing 98 million tenge in state losses.
Overall, 385 pregnant women received benefits based on falsified records, resulting in unlawful payouts of 1 billion tenge. Ten separate cases involved illegal maternity benefit payments, with 15 organisers held accountable. Additionally, three investigations targeted 15 officials from employment and social programme departments for misusing funds meant for targeted social assistance.
The AFM has now proposed reforms to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. These include stricter checks on retroactive pension contributions when calculating benefit eligibility. Since 2023, the digitisation of document processing and the use of the eGOV portal for assigning vulnerable status have already reduced opportunities for such fraud.
The investigations have led to prison sentences for key figures in the schemes. With 1.2 billion tenge recovered and stricter controls in place, authorities aim to prevent further abuse of social security funds. The shift to digital verification systems has also helped close loopholes that allowed these crimes to occur.
