Algerian Retirees to Prove Life Via Facial Recognition System by 2027
A French government minister announced that his country’s authorities prepared a new work program to verify that retirees aged 85 years and above are “alive” to eliminate possible fraud operations by 2027, and will include younger beneficiaries.
These measures were announced by the French Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts, Thomas Cazenave, during a question to the National Assembly (the lower chamber of Parliament), dated February 27, 2024, which was checked out by Echorouk, on the theme “Nine months later, a first assessment of the government plan “Acting against fraud”.
The French minister stated, in his response to MPs’ questions regarding cases of fraud in submitting life certificates by retirees outside French territory, that concerning pensions directed to non-European citizens; “The system provided in this case depends on the country in which the retirees live. Nearly half of the pensions paid abroad are paid in European Union countries; we have civil status exchange agreements with them which guarantee the correct information in the event of death abroad. In countries outside the European Union, retirees must produce yearly a certificate of existence duly completed by a civil registrar of the country of residence”.
The French minister explained that “in addition, there are targeted on-site checks, carried out each year in situations considered to be at risk, that is to say among the oldest policyholders. These on-site checks can be carried out with the support of local trusted third parties. For example, in Algeria, the “Cnav” (National Eledrly Insurance Fund) is experimenting with a summons from a trusted banking third party, the “Bred” (the Regional Discount and Deposit Bank), before being extended to other groups such as younger retirees, these measures must be evaluated. Finally, consular agents can also carry out checks – this is particularly the case in Algeria”.
Regarding Algeria, the Minister Delegate stated that “the procedure relies on a trusted third-party bank, Bred. Since 2022, consular agents have summoned 1,083 people who received a letter inviting them to go to local banks”.
According to him “35% of these Algeria retirees did not go to their banks and the payment of their pension was immediately stopped”, adding that “the objective is to effectively control all the files of policyholders over 85 years old by 2027”.
Previously, Renaud Villard, the General Manager of the French National Eledrly Insurance Fund (Cnav), announced during a Senate hearing that his country’s authorities intend to launch new measures to tighten control over beneficiaries of retirement pensions residing in Algeria by the spring of 2024. The most important detail in this procedure is that they target the elderly with technological methods, based on a biometric system that allows the beneficiary of the retirement pension to record his/her video and the application transfers the purpose for verification of the biometric data with that recorded on the passport of the concerned person.
According to him, this procedure will be optional at the beginning of implementation in the spring of 2024. Still, an amendment was made to the draft law No. 329, which makes proof of life through biometric data and a smartphone application mandatory as of January 1, 2027.
