With the onslaught of the recession at the beginning of the nineteen seventies and the consequent increase in the number of people who were unemployed or incapacitated, public interest with regard to the abuse of the social security system has grown. According to the author, social security system has become a recurrent item for the media. Dutch population appears, whenever there has been an inquiry into the matter, to hold the view that there is large-scale abuse of the social security system. The actual extent of abuse is difficult to determine because of the nature of the phenomenon. Abuse of the social security system is an offence and therefore people will not admit doing it. Although several authorities and researchers have attempted to get a grip on the subject, it has been so far without success. As a consequence, the opinions of politicians, the media, and the public are based on vague and subjective observations rather than the objectively determined extent of abuse.