Has hidden itself Jonathan A. not always. Just two years ago, “Mr. Cash Money” was showing off on social media. “Mr Cash” showed his fleet of BMW 3 Series, Mercedes SUVs and Audi limousines. Another time, the German with a Nigerian migrant background filmed himself handing out banknotes in his African country of birth.

It has long been known why he bathes in wealth. Jonathan A., who is registered in Dortmund, has become the father of 24 children. Apparently, as the authorities suspect. However, the mass father vehemently denies this. And he collects money for his supposed extended family lots of social benefits – According to estimates, the damage will amount to around 1.5 million euros.

“Mr. Cash Money”: Dortmund employs specialists

Upon request, the responsible Arnsberg district government confirmed that in Dortmund alone, seven men acted as fathers in 112 cases.

Of the 112 paternities in question, around half were certified nationwide, according to city spokesman Markus Kaminski. In the Ruhr area city there were a total of 52 between 2017 and 2022.

Because of the suspected cases identified, “a new procedure was introduced” in March 2024 and the responsible city department for birth certificates was reorganized. In the future, only four specialists would work on the cases. The “certificates” were also provided with “a checklist, an associated hearing form and a guideline for action,” explained Kaminski.

Residence permit through recognition: The illegal business model

If “one or more suspicions” arose regarding a newborn child, the parents would be asked to attend a hearing. “If the suspicions cannot be refuted, we will suspend the certification,” said the city spokesman. And the matter will be forwarded to the responsible immigration authority for further examination. For example, DNA tests could also be required.

The Dortmund procedure could, at least nationwide, be an example of a new authority model. So far, municipalities have been quite helpless when it comes to the issue of false paternity. Once it has been certified, under the current legal situation the authorities have no means of subsequently denying paternity. If the new regulation were to take effect, a retroactive review would be possible within five years.

The problem has been known for years. Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) speaks of a real business model in some cities. Men with a German passport, in most cases with a migration background, recognize dozens of children who are in fact not their own, the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Justice recently explained in response to a request from the state parliament. This would give the predominantly foreign mothers and their children a right of residence in Germany – and the right to financial assistance from the German state.

Because the fathers usually do not pay maintenance, which means that the local social welfare offices have to step into the breach. Six of the seven suspected mass murderers in Dortmund, who deny any guilt, have already been “the basis for a police complaint or the subject of criminal investigations” in other contexts, according to the paper from the NRW Ministry of Justice.

Errors in the legal system: Why the paternity fraud is so easy

And the list of allegations is long. Among other things, one of the men was found in three cases of fraud and just as many cases of money laundering and once of sexual abuse of children. Another for human trafficking, fraud, bodily harm and obtaining benefits by fraud. But the proofwhether there is apparent paternity, seems difficult.

Because the error lies in the system. In 1997, the federal government deliberately made recognition possible without any prerequisites through the child custody law reform. The idea behind this was that children and the state benefited when men identified themselves as fathers. It never occurred to anyone that this passage would open the door to fraud.

High number of unreported cases of false recognition

The extent to which the actual paternity hoax occurs remains an open question. A survey by the Federal Ministry of the Interior showed that the German immigration authorities investigated a total of 1,769 suspicious events between 2018 and 2021 and “identified around 290 cases as abusive recognition of paternity”. A further 1,800 cases were examined in diplomatic missions abroad, although there was a “very low rate of identified abuses”.

How many cases affect the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia alone is just as unknown as in most large metropolises between the Rhine and Weser. Those responsible in the Cologne administrative district also appear to be clueless. There are no corresponding statistics for the area of ​​responsibility, well-known authority spokesman Dennis Heidel: “And there is no obligation to collect data from the immigration offices, so no relevant evaluation can be carried out there at short notice either.”

Human trafficking and forced prostitution: The dark side of helping people smugglers

Some time ago, an insider from the Arnsberg district government described how the alleged fraud, for example in Dortmund, could be organized. Young women, for example from Nigeria and Ghana, are promised lucrative work in Europe, the spokesman told “Welt am Sonntag”. In fact, they would then be forced into prostitution in Libya, Spain, France or Italy.

As soon as one of the women becomes pregnant, the human traffickers refer the affected person to the organization’s contacts living in Germany. The latter then recognizes paternity. It is said that the false father receives up to 8,000 euros from his accomplices for each individual child.

New law against false paternity: Government plans stricter rules

A new law should put an end to this activity. The Federal Cabinet approved a draft in December According to which the recognition of paternity will only become effective in certain cases if, as in Dortmund, the responsible immigration authority has given its consent. For example, it is considered conspicuous if there is a “difference in residence law” between the parents, i.e. one parent has German citizenship or a secure residence permit, but the other does not.

“The consent of the immigration authorities should be requested by those affected,” the draft reads. This should ensure “the participation of those involved”. If it later turns out that false information was intentionally provided, the authority could withdraw the promises already made. The new case law would allow a retroactive review within five years.

Reform of the Civil Code: Protection for binational couples

Demands that the NRW state government also made when the law was revised. “The previous regulations of the Civil Code” had “not proven to be effective” in combating the problem, said a spokeswoman for the local Ministry of Integration. What is also important: In order not to put too much strain on binational couples, the draft law names “case constellations that should be excluded from the abuse test”.

This applies, for example, if a couple has a shared residence for a longer period of time, if the person acknowledging and the mother married after the birth of the child or if the man is the biological father of another child of the same woman. Since 2008, lawmakers have tried three times to stop the false paternity model. The first reform was overturned by the Federal Constitutional Court because of the hardship it would have on children, who could become stateless as a result. The second reform, in which notaries and youth welfare offices were asked to report suspected cases of abuse to the immigration authorities, proved to be ineffective.

The traffic light government had already presented an amendment to the law on apparent paternity in the summer of 2024. However, the breakup of the coalition between the SPD, Greens and FDP meant that it was no longer passed by the Bundestag. But now the grand coalition wants to finally introduce the necessary paragraph to put a stop to paternity abuse.