Police suspect €400,000 scheme to bring cleaners to Finland

Police suspect that four people tried to charge about 30 Myanmar nationals between €7,000 and €23,000 each to enter Finland and obtain cleaning jobs, Yle reports. The suspected criminal proceeds total about €400,000.

The suspects allegedly promised to arrange entry into Finland and employment in the cleaning sector in exchange for the payments. Thirteen people who paid the fees entered Finland. Some began working in cleaning, while others did not receive the work specified in their residence permits. Eight residence permit applications were rejected, and some of the victims never reached Finland.

Police say some of those seeking work became indebted or sold their family’s livelihood in their home country to pay the fees. “These are tragic human stories,” said Nina Räty, the lead investigator in the Helsinki Police Department’s national human trafficking investigation team.

Two of the suspects are Finnish citizens and two are Myanmar citizens living in Finland with residence permits. Three are in custody and one is subject to a travel ban.

The suspected offences took place between August 2022 and June 2026. The suspects are accused of multiple aggravated arrangements of illegal entry, aggravated usury, forgery and offences involving false register entries.

According to police, the suspects established a staffing company in Helsinki to recruit workers as cleaners. The company made no wage payments during its existence apart from one payment of €528.

One of the suspects worked as a supervisor at a large cleaning company and is suspected of making employment contracts with Asian workers without the company management’s knowledge. Police say the cleaning companies were not involved in the suspected crimes.

Police suspect that the applicants’ work-based residence permits were sought and obtained by providing the Finnish Immigration Service with incorrect and false information about the employer and employment relationship.

Räty said investigating the collection of upfront fees is difficult because victims often do not want to discuss it. They may be told not to disclose the payments, while shame can also prevent them from speaking.

“Helping people is completely different from charging money for arranging employment,” Räty said.

The preliminary investigation is expected to be transferred to a prosecutor during October.