State Senate Republicans are calling for an oversight hearing on SNAP-EBT fraud in Massachusetts after the Herald reported a whistleblower’s claims of “rampant” and “unabated” fraud within the program and as several other SNAP fraud schemes have been uncovered by the feds and state auditor.
The caucus sent a letter Wednesday to Senate Post Audit and Oversight Committee Chair Sen. Mark Montigny requesting a hearing on “significant and recurring evidence of SNAP EBT fraud, operational failures within the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), and the Commonwealth’s inability to adequately protect taxpayer funds and program beneficiaries.”
“A recent whistleblower report featured in the Boston Herald and based on the comments of a DTA employee details specific instances of internal dysfunction within DTA amplifies the many reasons for concern with these benefits and the way they…
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.