The month of March will be a pivotal one as Minnesota attempts to emerge from the shadow of massive fraud.
The federal government says it is witholding $259 million in Medicaid funding and that the state has 60 days to prove that it has rooted out fraud in existing programs.
This comes at the same time that the temporary commissioner of the state’s Department of Human Services was made the permanent director.
In his State of the Union address, President Trump singled Minnesota out for its fraud scandals, claiming that there had been $19 billion of fraud in Minnesota in recent years. The former Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson estimated that $9 billion could be fraud. But those numbers have never been verified.
Shireen Gandhi was just named the permanent commissioner of DHS last week. She says the verified number so far is at least $300 million.
“So there has been about $300 million…
This remains the most prevalent form of financial crime globally. It targets the direct access points to your money: your cards and your bank accounts.
- Skimming: Criminals use small devices called “skimmers” placed over ATM or point-of-sale card slots to capture the data from your card’s magnetic strip.
- Card-Not-Present (CNP) Fraud: This occurs during online shopping where a physical card isn’t required. Thieves use stolen card numbers, expiry dates, and CVV codes to make unauthorized purchases.
- Account Takeover (ATO): A hacker gains access to your online banking credentials (often through malware or phishing) and changes the contact details or passwords, locking you out while they drain your funds.