Officials at Hamburg's social welfare agency have confiscated and sold the cars of 27 welfare recipients after discovering that these people were not allowed to own them and receive government checks at the same time. Welfare recipients are only allowed to own a car in case they are disabled or senior citizens. In addition to taking away the cars, Hamburg officials also demand to be paid back €31,000 in welfare payments from the vehicle owners because they were not entitled to that money as a result of having a car. Agency officials said they didn't expect to see much of the money, but added they were taking a zero tolerance approach to welfare abuse.