ACF Warns SSBG Recipients of Fraud Scam

One of the most notable lines in television show history has to be the oft-repeated line in the 1980’s police drama “Hill Street Blues,” in which the cops were warned after their briefing with the phrase “Let’s be careful out there.” States and territory recipients of Social Services Block Grants (SSBG) and their community-based partners should heed this same warning. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) recently issued a fraud notice to these grantees about a significant effort targeting individuals receiving services under the block grant.

ACF’s Office of Community Services (OCS) explained that it has received a notable uptick from adults who have been targeted by claims that they won a SSBG award, yet must pay a transaction fee to receive the award. OCS explained that the perpetrators of this award scheme misrepresent themselves as federal agents, and that victims of the fraudulent activity, in some cases, have reported that they have paid out amounts totaling $1,000 in credit card payments or more. Most of the individuals affected have incomes that are fixed or limited. “The perpetrators of this scheme are making false claims using SSBG, but have no ties to the federal program,” OCS adds.

To reduce this threat of fraud, ACF urged state and territorial SSBG recipients to:

• share notice of the fraudulent activity among the subject matter experts at the state and local agencies who provide both indirect and direct engagement with social services clients;
• ensure that subject matter experts in offices that receive public phone calls or complaints are aware of this issue and can reference the resources listed to mitigate and eventually catch the perpetrators of this fraud; and
• brief local law enforcement and investigative partners on the methods by which potential SSBG clients have been targeted to enlist their resources in tracking, identifying, capturing and prosecuting perpetrators.

ACF is telling SSBG recipients that if a client contacts their agency or program advising that an alleged federal agent said that they won an SSBG award, yet needed to pay a fee, that they should request that the client: (1) report the information to the HHS Grants Fraud Hotline (1-800-447-8477) and provide information about the material asked of them, any money spent and identifying information such as the email address and phone number used by the person misrepresenting the U.S. government; and (2) file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-382-4357.

Fraud schemes continue to thrive. It was good advice on the Hill Street Blues, and it’s good advice now — Let’s be careful out there!

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