How to Find Welfare Fraud
USA Today reported that states across the nation are using innovative techniques to identify and reduce welfare fraud. Although there is no national database to track statistics, welfare fraud has been estimated to cost taxpayers millions of dollars annually. Most cases of welfare fraud are caused by the recipient providing false or inaccurate information in order to qualify for benefits. The most common types of fraud involve unreported income, failing to disclose an absent parent in the home and claiming nondependent children. Caseworkers who administer welfare benefits are usually responsible for identifying fraud. However the public can help identify fraud as well.
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Instructions
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Verify Everything
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Require original documents. Citizenship documents, pay statements and medical records can all be manipulated or forged. That possibility is reduced when originals are required.
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Verify all questionable information through direct contact. Questionable information can be verified by contacting the employer, the doctor's office or department of vital records office by phone.
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Check applicants against available databases. To reduce fraud, the applicant's identifying information is checked against records maintained by the IRS, the Social Security Administration, and other states.
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Enter recipient's address into your local property assessment Web site. Ownership of property and/or landlord information is confirmed in this way.
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Send investigators to verify accuracy of reported information. Fraud investigators can check household composition and living arrangements of welfare recipients. They can speak with the client, neighbors and employers to verify questionable information.
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Follow-up on welfare fraud tips. Each state has a fraud tip line phone number in place to collect complaints and allegations of fraud. The United Council on Welfare Fraud maintains a complete list of state contact information. Information reported in this manner should be investigated.
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References
- Photo Credit Ryan McVay/Digital Vision/Getty Images
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Comments
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Welfare fraud is no reason to allow the members of Congress who make over a million dollars per year, to pay no income taxes. 261 members of Congress make over a million per year. You carry them on your back.
