By Teon Hayes and Jesse Fairbanks
Harmful and false narratives about people who use basic needs programs emerged in the 1900s and continue to influence policymaking to this day, including the idea of “welfare fraud.” Policymakers interested in limiting government spending have long alleged that basic needs programs are riddled with “fraud.” In their view, “fraud” is perpetrated by people with low incomes who “take advantage” of programs that are funded with taxpayer dollars. These policymakers claim that people who use basic needs programs simply “don’t want to work,” implying that a family can afford housing, child care, food, and health insurance just by working one minimum-wage job.
Fraud is the willful misrepresentation of facts for personal gain, and it’s most often committed by people with institutional power.
Recent policy changes that have been proposed to address “fraud” in…
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.