WASHINGTON (TNND) — Federal agents backed by Los Angeles police swarmed a party supply store along Skid Row in Los Angeles as part of an alleged SNAP fraud investigation that ended with an arrest. Authorities arrested 30-year-old Jesse Cervantes-Gomez, a cashier accused of paying kickbacks to welfare recipients for bogus purchases and allegedly exchanging SNAP benefits for cash in what was described as a “kickbacks for welfare scam.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli also shared the story, writing on social media, “Fraud doesn’t pay in LA!” In an interview with The National News Desk in June, Essayli also discussed his office’s ramped-up approach to investigating fraud. (TNND)
Federal investigators identified the store as a potential fraud target after noticing it processed more than $730,000 in SNAP purchases over the course of a year….
IT & DATA SECURITY (MITIGATING THE “INSIDER THREAT”)
As seen in the TD Bank case, an employee with too much “access” can sell your customer data to syndicates.
- Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP): Employees should only have access to the specific folders and databases required for their current task.
- Access Revocation: Have a “Termination Checklist” that ensures all digital access (Email, VPN, Banking) is revoked within 60 minutes of an employee resigning or being dismissed.
- System Logs & Audit Trails: Enable “Read/Write Logging” on your server. If a customer’s data is leaked, you need to know exactly which login accessed that record and at what time.
- Encryption at Rest: Ensure that sensitive files (like your customer ID numbers or payroll spreadsheets) are encrypted so that if a staff member copies them to a USB, they cannot be read.