United Council on Welfare Fraud on LinkedIn: Wondering where our 50th UCOWF National Training Conference will be this… (2024)

We are the United Council on Welfare Fraud.The United Council on Welfare Fraud [UCOWF] is the only national membership association dedicated to defending against the erosion of integrity in public assistance programs – equipping members across the industry with crucial resources for collaboration, professional development, and advocacy.Collaboration: We connect members to a nationwide network of shared support.Professional Development: We provide professional development opportunities through annual conferences and a respected certification program.Advocacy: We empower our members with effective messaging for informing policymakers, including relevant data and factual accounts of welfare fraud to shine a light on its wide-ranging impact.UCOWF spans industries, with a membership comprised of dedicated professionals who play crucial roles in fraud prevention and identification, the recovery of fraudulently-obtained taxpayer dollars, and strengthening the integrity of our nation's public assistance programs.If that’s your line of work, let’s get talking — that’s why we’re here.The United Council on Welfare Fraud. United for Integrity.#UnitedForIntegrity #LetsGetTalking #UCOWF

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Our quarterly newsletter is out! Check out this member benefit on our website to learn more about one of the great presenters we will have at our upcoming National Conference, fraud in the news, and some Bill information from our Intergovernmental Committee.https://lnkd.in/eXXYbCuu

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Today, the USDA #FNS called for comments on the impact of 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 in #SNAP (mandated by 7 CFR 273.2 & 2008 Farm Bill), a process crucial for verifying applicant data and ensuring #programintegrity. This request does 𝑛𝑜𝑡 seek feedback from anti-fraud staff or address issues flagged by Quality Control, obscuring significant findings.Interviews are vital for proper #eligibilitydeterminations, allowing #caseworkers to accurately assess applicant information, including #identity, #income, #householdcomposition or needs, and are especially beneficial to the elderly or those with special needs.For #applicants, interviews provide a chance to convey their unique circ*mstances, receive guidance, and education about SNAP benefits and usage, including #EBT card management and eligibility renewals. They also address any process or rule concerns. Importantly, interviews can be conducted via phone or video to remove barriers like travel, childcare, or job schedules for in-person visits.Interviews serve as the frontline defense and as a #frauddeterrent by ensuring accurate verification of applicant information and allow for the resolution of missing, fraudulent, or #unclearinformation before benefits are wrongly issued. This is particularly important in safeguarding against the exploitation of the system by fraudsters and ensuring correct benefit distribution. They are key to preventing #improperpayments, a concern highlighted by the most recent #QualityControl findings. Notably, they also prevent recipient long-term hardship from #benefitrecovery for erroneously allocated benefits.#UCOWF will respond and urges member input. This initiative could undermine the program's integrity and affect millions relying on it, benefiting only fraudsters and those seeking to expand assistance rolls no matter the cost.https://lnkd.in/edbbQ6BR #rubberstamptheprocess #fraudwasteabuse #welfarefraud #eligibilityfraud #benefitrecovery #clientinterviews American Enterprise Institute The Heritage Foundation Foundation for Government Accountability

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Our colleagues with the California Welfare Fraud Investigator Association were interviewed about the rampant fraud against SNAP recipients. "There's taxpayers across the state that have to foot the bill for this, that continuously should have an expectation that those that issue out these monies are good stewards of the taxpayer funds.”We have spoken about these issues - the majority are not due to skimming devices, fraud equipment that has been around for over two decades - and yet, agency leaders and legislators still can’t seem to figure it out. Or don’t want to? Recently filed bipartisan legislation does close to nothing to address this, and you would be hard-pressed to find real “program integrity” initiatives in this #FarmBill. In just January, Sacramento county SNAP recipients had over half a million in benefits stolen from their EBT accounts- taxpayer funds meant to provide supplemental benefits to feed themselves or families. Statewide, it’s $10M a month!#programintegrity #accounttakeover #hijackbenefits #zerocybersecurity #knowyourcustomer #welfarefraud #snap #tanf #ebt Shawn Ferris ABC10 #cwfia #ucowfhttps://lnkd.in/eEiB95Et

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Welfare fraud investigators often are tasked with internal threat detection and investigations - watching for employee related fraud. Sadly, those tasked with serving the needy can be sheep in wolf clothing.In this example, NYC eligibility workers conspired to steal the identities of homeless people to defraud the government of benefits. https://lnkd.in/eTRbWYby

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Senator Ron Wyden has sponsored bipartisan legislation (with Sen. John Fetterman and Sen. Bill Cassidy). Senate Bill 3893 "Enhanced Cybersecurity for SNAP Act" attempts to address the SNAP fraud of recipient benefits we have been advocating for. Members received newsletter information on what was really behind the stealing of eligible member benefits. It's not the #skimming devices that have been in place for over 20 years. There's no sudden vulnerability to skimming in SNAP/TANF/WIC - its been there. At least something is happening. While the bill does indeed hit the barn, it misses the target by not addressing Account Takeover. Fraudsters socially engineer call-centers (county/state AND #ebt vendor) due to a lack of identity controls. (Call your state IVR, call center, or your EBT vendor and note how they verify your identity. Asking for name, #dob, #ssn, and address are all things every identity fraudster already knows.)It's good to see chips in cards, but the bill does nothing to address "card not present" transactions or stop bot-scripted balance inquiry checks using common PIN numbers from cloned point-of-sale devices. NIST Standard requirements are encouraging, but as we saw during the Pandemic, they did nothing to stop the proliferation of identity fraud in unemployment. Other areas of concern include:- Placing the burden of protecting recipient cards back on the recipient to freeze their card or turn off out of state transactions.- Eliminating mag stripes in 4 years, despite major credit card organizations will be using them through 2033.- Requires all 256,000 approved retailers to have chip reading devices within 180 days.- Fails to require identity verifications on applications or customer facing portals.- Bill states that you cannot contact the client to ensure a purchase is valid. We can't understand the logic behind this, the private sector does this. This runs contrary to protecting client benefits and is the practice of the private credit/debit fintech industry. This only benefits fraudsters.- Bill states you cannot require a client to appear in person to receive a card. This also only benefits fraudsters. #ebtcards are often provided in person during a Disaster SNAP event.- While it will use one-time "virtual card numbers" for online shopping, it does not address mailing SNAP purchases to locations other than the recipients address on file. This benefits fraudsters.- Does not address #ThirdPartyProcessors. When past #farmbill absolved #USDA #FNS from distributing POS devices, it became the Wild Wild West of FinTech. Where we are today is one of the unintended consequences of that decision.- Does not address the geolocation of the device or transaction. As we have stated before, a fraudster sitting in Beijing can drain SNAP benefits intended to feed eligible recipients experiencing hunger.- Cybersecurity cannot be accomplished without addressing the sorely lacking retailer integrity.

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#Mississippi state Representative Sam Creekmore's HB 1638 has passed the House and is now with the Senate well before the end of session on May 5th. HB 1638 allows the state to collect SNAP, TANF, and/or Child Care and Development overpayments from Mississippi income tax refunds. This applies to outstanding debts to the state with established overpayment claims over $125 with refunds exceeding $25 and no current payment plan in place - similar to the current federal Treasury Offset Program.https://lnkd.in/esAAzQ8H#improperpayments #fraudwasteabuse #oversight #goodstewardship

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Lifelong Fraud Fighter Frank McKenna (Frank On Fraud) penned a wonderful message, "Lone Wolf Fraud Fighters, You Are Not Alone." While Mr. McKenna wrote this for the private sector fraud workers, this article will absolutely resonate with all of our #CWFI #UCOWF members. He also shares some links to professional groups that help bring together like-minded individuals.We'll forgive you Frank for leaving us off the list as the only national professional organization dedicated to combatting government assistance welfare program fraud. 😋 Thank you for the encouragement to those of us who can, at times, feel like the lone voice screaming into the darkness.Stay safe Fraud Fighters!#ucowf #CollaborateAdvocateEducate #fraudfighters #youarenotalonehttps://lnkd.in/ektHDKNH

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At our 50-year conference last year, we discussed how easy it was to trick facial recognition in the absence of corroborating data verifications with use case examples. (Sorry Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.) Biometric companies got better, so fraudsters turn to AI to easily defeat them again, including "liveness" checks. This is a threat to all the programs we protect. Watch this clip that demonstrates how good the fraud-enabling technology has become - can your eligibility workers recognize this? https://lnkd.in/ecNTGu6R#identityfraud #deepfakes #artificialintelligencetechnology #faceswap #facialrecognition #ucowf

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United Council on Welfare Fraud has previously posted and testified about the lack of cybersecurity and how the #EBTskimming is primarily an "account takeover" issue. In 8 months in 2022, Dawood Kassim (AKA Badr al din Kassim) and Dia Alqalisi (AKA Diaaldeen Alqalisi) operated a #FNS approved #SNAP #retailer "bodega" store in Brooklyn, NY. During that time, thousands of real recipients had their EBT balances drained - taxpayer funds designed to feed those experiencing poverty and hunger. Total losses are not known, but the probable cause affidavit identified over $20 million stolen. It's unknown where the funds were sent or spent.According to the #FarmBill and current regulations, the USDA FNS is responsible for vetting retailers prior to approval to receive SNAP funds in exchange for food. But this was straight out identity fraud theft, and unfortunately as our member welfare investigators know, is just the beginning.https://lnkd.in/gwGXT3WS

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