89 New Clients Rejected in 2015 as Rockland Fights Welfare Fraud

The Rockland County Department of Social Services continues its aggressive efforts to combat welfare fraud in 2015, rejecting 89 new applications for public benefits due to Front End fraud-detection.

Those rejections, of applications made to DSS between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, resulted in $628,242 in Front End cost-avoidance to local taxpayers.

Since 2014, a total of 216 applications have been denied, and investigators have also targeted current welfare clients looking for fraud.

“Along with DSS Commissioner Susan Sherwood and District Attorney Tom Zugibe, my administration is working to make sure that people who steal from the system are brought to justice, protecting Rockland County taxpayers, as well as the limited pool of resources available to help our most vulnerable neighbors,” said County Executive Ed Day in a prepared statement. “We simply cannot afford to let our county’s safety net become a hammock.”

The system comes into play when someone applies for assistance with programs including Medicaid, SNAP benefits, housing or child care.

Social Welfare Examiners are trained to identify certain criteria that could be indicators of possible fraud. Suspect applicants are then referred to the Front End Detection System for further examination; there, investigators confirm application information by interviewing applicants to confirm bank documents, credit reports and in some cases making home visits.

False application information may result in denial of benefits.

Since the start of his administration in January 2014, Front End detection has denied 216 new applications due to questionable information, Day said.

“Red flags” were identified by studying existing patterns of welfare fraud by clients already in the system, and then applying the information to new applicants with the help of computers and old-fashioned investigative techniques -- from interviewing applicants to confirming bank documents, credit reports, and in some cases, visiting the applicant’s home.

DSS investigators have also targeted hundreds of cheats already on the public dole. In addition to the 216 denied new applications, more than 250 active assistance cases were either closed or had their benefits reduced in 2014 and 2015, resulting in $2.3 million in combined cost-avoidance.

As for restitution, DSS recovered more than $557,000 in overpayments during the 21-month period ending Sept. 30.