Federal law enforcement officials on Thursday announced that two Ohio state employees and two co-conspirators were indicted in connection with an alleged $30 million Medicaid billing fraud scheme involving children’s behavioral health services that were never rendered.
At a press conference in Ohio, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Medicaid fraud case was just one of several cases unsealed over the last week targeting some $50 million of fraud, including one case involving a $1.4 million COVID-19 loan fraud scheme.
All four defendants involved in the Medicaid fraud case turned themselves in to authorities this week, a source familiar with the investigation told CBS News.
As part of the investigation, 14 vehicles were seized, including a Maserati, a Mercedes, a Bentley and a McLaren, according to the source.
The defendants are alleged to have offered therapeutic behavioral…
Identity theft is the “foundational” fraud upon which many other crimes are built. It involves the unauthorized acquisition and use of a person’s personal identifying information (PII), such as an ID number, Social Security number, or passport details.
- How it works: Fraudsters obtain PII through data breaches, mail theft, or “social engineering” (tricking people into revealing details). Once they have this data, they can open new bank accounts, apply for credit cards or loans, and even receive medical treatment under your name.
- Synthetic Identity Fraud: A sophisticated variation where criminals combine real and fabricated information to create a completely new, “synthetic” person. This is particularly difficult to detect because there is no single victim to report the suspicious activity initially.