Would you "drop a dime" on someone defrauding the state assistance program?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Damn, I hate this.

A tenant, who lived with her mother, and said mother’s Social Security check paid the rent, moved after mother died, as she could not afford the apt. That was over a year ago.

A present tenant let slip that she still gets ex-tenants mail, and ex-tenant picks it up periodically. I asked why didn’t she notify the PO and was told that if the state DES gets notice of change of address on a person, they check it out. I think it’s not the SS check, but rather maybe food stamps?

Shit, I hate this

2

What’s the evidence that fraud is occurring? All you’ve stated is that mail is arriving for someone who has moved out. It’s quite a jump from that to fraud. Who is the mail from?

3

If I get a reward, sure.

4

My willingness to turn someone in is directly related to how close I am to them and how much I like/dislike them.

In the OP’s case, I wouldn’t actively help them, but I’d probably look the other way. Assuming of course that I’m not on the hook for anything should they get caught.

5

Just what ex-tenant told current tenant as her reason not to file a forwarding address-“because DES will know.”

6

That’s a pretty big jump, from not changing their address to fraud?

7

Has it occurred to you that this crime, if it is even happening, you don’t know

a. Is pretty nickle and dime
b. Is bilking the government of a small amount of money, if it’s even happening
c. The government should be protecting itself, it certainly has the resources
d. Doesn’t affect you personally in any way

So no. Don’t report it. There’s no brownie points for being a good citizen and frankly, speaking to the police about something like this just makes sure the police know who you are now, adds your name to their records, etc. (this can be catastrophically bad on rare occasions)

Crimes you should report are ones victimizing someone who can’t report the crime themselves. Obviously that is things like murder and child abuse. If she’s stealing from the government, either the government can figure it out or frankly the government is just going to have to pay.

8

I’m not getting involved with some penny ante type fraud even if I do know for sure that it’s happening. I know that in one minor case the state did nothing about it because it wasn’t worth the cost and effort. I suspect that happens a lot. I consider that part of the problem, even though tracking down a $100 fraud might cost us a $1000 we will see lots of minor and major fraud occurring because there is so little chance of getting caught.

9

Why don’t you notify the PO of the address change?

10

So the ex-tenant told a current tenant who then told you? That’s kind of the definition of hearsay. I’d mind my own business.

11

Two things: it’s not legal for a landlord to do that for an ex-tenant and the landlord might not have the right address. Tenants often move somewhere temporary while looking for a more permanent address.

12

A landlord can’t tell the PO that a person no longer lives there? Not necessarily give them a new address, but just “That person doesn’t live here anymore”?

13

Given the finite sums appropriate for public assistance, cheaters aren’t “stealing from the government”, they’re stealing from the actually needy.

14

I can think of situations where the person is not committing a fraud but it’s a pain in the ass to change addresses. If, for example, they have to reapply if they move to another county, if their mail service is not reliable in the new place, if they are at the new place temporarily, etc.

15

In this case, absolutely not – all you have really is gossip. Leave it go.

16

Of course, that risks cutting the person off from mail they might actually need and/or be entitled to get.

There’s nothing illegal in having someone else hold your mail (that is, use their address for mailing purposes) and periodically pick it up. It might be illegal/fraud depending on what, exactly, the person is getting but the OP does not, in fact, know that fraud is being committed. It could be the person is not doing anything wrong and the communications are muddled or the new tenant doesn’t understand what is and isn’t fraud.

After my husband died I spent months receiving mail for him while I was settling his affairs. If I had had to move a month after he died getting HIS address changed, being dead and all, would have been much more difficult than getting my own address changed. No fraud involved, but it was a lot easier for people to contact his “estate” at the address they already had for him. Some of that did, in fact, involve Public Aid as he was on Medicaid when he died. Yeah, I can see situations where nothing wrong is going on but it’s a LOT less bother for everyone concerned to continue using the old address.

In other words, not enough information for know what’s really happening. The landlord is better off not getting involved.

17

I’m sorry, I wasn’t clear. Tenant has changed HER address, but done nothing with her deceased mothers. So the mail the other tenant is holding is the dead moms. Who was the party getting assistance.

In any case, I was not anxious to get involved, perhaps a misguided sense of civic responsibility led to the ?

18

Again, this isn’t for an individual to police. The government’s responsibility here is to :

a. Appropriate more sums so all the needy (plus a few freeloaders) are actually fed and taken care of

b. Police it better so that there are fewer freeloaders.

The government can do a, b, or a mix. Or none, because politicians are incompetent and government gridlock is common.

This is not the responsibility of private citizens, it’s no more your business than how your neighbor’s wife spends her husband’s money frivolously.

19

How my neighbor spends his or her money is not my business. How the government spends my money is.

20

But you still only have just third hand information about it. Let it go.