LOS ANGELES — California officials on Thursday said they uncovered a multimillion-dollar scheme to use stolen identities from people outside the state to charge for hospice services paid for with a government insurance program.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta said officials have charged 21 and have so far arrested 5 people involved as the Trump administration accused California of not doing enough to crack down on fraud.
Federal officials have launched a nationwide effort to target improper spending in federal benefit programs, arresting eight people last week they said were involved in various health care fraud schemes in and around Los Angeles.
“This isn’t a political game for us. This is about protecting taxpayer dollars, protecting the programs that sick and vulnerable Californians rely on, and protecting our state,” Bonta said in a news release.
After the Department of Health Care…
PAYROLL & HR CONTROLS (PREVENTING “GHOST” SCHEMES)
Payroll fraud is often the hardest to detect because it “looks” like a normal business expense.
- Segregation of Duties (SoD): The person who adds new employees to the system must not be the same person who approves the monthly pay run.
- Mandatory Vacation Policy: Require all financial and HR staff to take 5–10 consecutive days of leave annually. Fraud often surfaces when the perpetrator isn’t there to “hide” the trail.
- Ghost Employee Audit: Perform a quarterly “Headcount Reconciliation” where managers must physically verify every name on their payroll list exists.
- Self-Pay Blocking: Ensure the payroll software has a hard-coded block preventing administrators from editing their own salary or bank details.