Crow Wing County prevented the issuance of $130, 776 in fraudulent government benefit claims in the first eight months of 2017, according to a report by the County’s Community Services Department.

According to a press release, from January through August 2017 the County’s Fraud Investigator completed 285 investigations of pending and open cases and identified the following cost savings:

• $22,811 from Cash Programs, SNAP (Food Support), Federal Medical, State Medical and Child Care Assistance programs at application.
• $107,965 from Cash Programs, SNAP, Federal Medical, State Medical and Child Care Assistance programs on open cases.
• $131,531 in overpayments were identified. These cases were sent to the Collections Unit for recovery.
• We currently have 9,909 public assistance cases, and of those cases 285 were reported and investigations were completed, 89 cases were unfounded.

The report added that four households were disqualified from receiving assistance and two cases were referred for criminal charges.

Sheila Skogen, Operations Division Manager, said the agency is committed to safeguarding the public money by actively pursuing all fraud referrals. “Our fraud investigator will thoroughly investigate all reports made to our office.”

For more information, or to report fraud, contact Barb Dusbabek at (218) 824-1208 or barb.dusbabek@crowwing.us.

Reporters may remain anonymous. You can also call the Fraud Hotline number at 1-800-627-9977 to report suspected fraudulent activity.

By — Haydee Clotter