When you live in a two-room Paris apartment and there are over 50 people registered to your address, police are bound to get suspicious.
Here are the limited details of this strange story. An unidentified 54-year-old man of African origins was arrested recently at his Paris apartment.
A police raid uncovered documents showing there were supposedly more than 50 people living at his address.
The man is accused of being part of a social benefits scam, which could have been costing the state more than 1 million euros ($1.27 million) in claims by the mothers of the children registered at the Paris address.
The suspect would allegedly register children and their mothers with French authorities for a fee 150 to 200 euros. This would allow the mothers to get residency and claim social benefits.
And where did he find all these women? According to Paris police, the man said he met the mothers at various bars, night clubs and even on visits to countries such as Senegal, Cameroon and Mali.
Some of the women involved in this case claim they received up to 7,500 euros on an assortment of monthly allowances.
To date, 42 women have been identified by the Paris police. Of course, all of them claim the suspect is the biological father of their child.