Public more aware of welfare cheats

The increase in the number of substantiated cases of social welfare fraud in recent years was partly due to greater public awareness, labour minister Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said yesterday. In the 2007/08 financial year there were 960 substantiated fraud cases involving more than HK$45.4 million. There were 896 such cases in 2006/07 involving more than HK$50 million. And in 2005/06 there were 764 cases involving more than HK$47 million.