Post-Katrina identity fraud and what FEMA doesn’t know
There can be no doubt about the enduring devastation caused when Hurricane Katrina assaulted the Gulf Coast. The rebuilding efforts are still going on despite the fact that many evacuees are still displaced throughout the U.S. In addition, evidence of Katrina-related fraud is still popping up all over the country, and FEMA is so swamped by the volume of claims that they aren’t able to accurately resolve the identities of everyone who claims to need aid.
According to FEMA data, 700 people have been charged with fraud resulting from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. However, the “Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force has referred 11,000 potential fraud cases to Homeland Security and a handful of other law enforcement agencies,” and “the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm, identified another 22,000 cases” (from an article on USAToday.com).
Some of the most common scams are clearly issues of improper identity resolution: fraudulent Social Security numbers, fake or inaccurate addresses, etc. Now, to be fair, part of that inaccuracy comes from the fact that FEMA tried to quickly help as many legitimate victims as it could. Nonetheless, the Government Accountability Office thinks that FEMA spent around $1 billion on fraudulent hurricane aid.
One man was recently convicted in Houston for fraudulently filing 17 claims himself as part of a larger group of 39 claims. He listed damage to primary addresses (some of which didn’t even exist) in New Orleans and Lake Charles, claimed under multiple SSNs, and got, among other aid, ten separate checks for $2,000. All the while - as well as during the actual storms - he lived in Houston. And he’s hardly an isolated case. According to a post on The Police News:
“A total of forty-nine individuals has been charged in the Southern District of Texas with fraud relating to Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita. Eighteen of the twenty-eight defendants sentenced thus far have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment.”
These crimes are perfect examples of the need for dependable identity resolution in many governmental and financial situations. The issue here isn’t necessarily one of collecting or storing data on individuals. Instead, it’s about being able to determine if people are who they say they are through careful screening that ensures their privacy. To date, FEMA has lost around $1 billion, and the costs for retail are much, much higher (roughly $41.6 billion, as we reported a while ago). Without those identity resolution measures in place, it seems the losses will keep building like so many storms on the horizon.
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