Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance

Welfare Fraud Detection Programs (Follow-Up Review)

The Social Services Law requires each social services district to establish procedures to identify, investigate and resolve potential cases of fraud, misrepresentation or inadequate documentation in applications for public assistance. To help identify and control welfare fraud, the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) uses programs such as the Front End Detection System (FEDS), the Automated Finger Imaging System (AFIS) and the Eligibility Verification Review program (EVR). In our prior audit 96-S-50, we found that three districts did not use the FEDS program, that the New York City district did not verify income information reported by applicants and that the Department of Social Services (OTDA's predecessor agency) had not received the mandated consultant-performed evaluation of AFIS. Because of limitations in the Department's information systems, we could not evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these individual fraud detection programs. In our follow-up review, we found that OTDA has either implemented, or made progress in implementing, most of our recommendations. OTDA did not carry out our recommendation to identify and track costs by program, which we believe is important for evaluating each program's cost-effectiveness.

For a complete copy of Report 99-F-21 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.