Category Archives: Fraud

A state agency being defrauded of $2.7 million in taxpayer funds should be enough to motivate the State of California to reform its billing and payment policies so corrupt bureaucrats have less power.

“Do we know what this is?”

That’s what Marisa Ramos, acting chief of the California Office of AIDS, replied when staff pointed to about $1 million of billings from a company no one had heard of.

It turns out the company, Web Tech Solutions, was invented by staffer Schenelle Flores to help bilk the office of $2.7 million of taxpayer funds to pay for her trips to Disneyland, concerts and sporting events, according to a report by The Sacramento Bee. 

The California Department of Public Health recently released new details about the fraud following a lawsuit by The Sacramento Bee seeking the release of records.

Flores oversaw fiscal operations for the HIV Prevention Branch of the California Office of AIDS when she used contractor for the office, MLB Distributors, to bankroll her trips by billing the state for the cost, The Bee reported.

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Unemployment fraud now ranks as the 4th biggest federal COVID expenditure.

A group of scammers in New York City allegedly ripped off millions from the state’s super-charged pandemic welfare system. They were busted after (rather foolishly) posting pictures of themselves with massive money stacks on social media and now face prosecution.

“A group of young men is accused of ripping off $2 million in COVID-19 relief funds by stealing personal information from people in the assistance program, funneling their money to personal bank accounts, and withdrawing the cash at banks in Brooklyn and Queens,” Fox Business reports. “The scams began last June and continued through April.” 

The scammers’ target was the state’s unemployment benefits system. During the pandemic, the government greatly increased benefit payouts and hastily expanded eligibility to new categories of workers. In its rush to get taxpayer money out the door, the government created a target-rich system flush with cash and light on verification. 

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Lawmakers have committed a total of $486B in funding for unemployment benefits, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

A significant portion of unemployment benefits to Americans struggling during the coronavirus pandemic may be getting stolen by fraudsters, according to new data.

ID.me, a computer security firm which verifies worker identities across 19 states, roughly 75% of the national population, finds that more than $200 billion in federal assistance for unemployed Americans may have been pocketed through fraud. The finding is more than triple the official government estimate of $63 billion, based on the 10% pre-pandemic fraud rate.

The firm notes that roughly 20% of the fraud is linked to breached personal data, up to 10% is through social engineering, and 2.5% are linked to face matching, where a criminal tries to use a mask, video, or image of the victim. Up to 30% of claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which provides benefits to Americans who are self-employed and contractors, are fraudulent, according to ID.me.

A spokesperson for ID.me did not immediately return FOX Business’ request for comment.

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