Social security investigators have doubled the amount recovered through state pension fraud over the past five to six years, the social insurance bank told the NRC on Friday.

While figures for 2012 are not yet available, in 2011 €11.8m was claimed back from fraudsters, the SVB said.

The increase is due to better coordination between local authority organisations and greater awareness of the potential for fraud, the SVB said.

Most fraud involves pensioners claiming to be single when they are living with someone else. Simply sharing a house with someone – such as a sibling – counts as living together in the official definition.