FRAUD, WASTE, AND ABUSE

What Is Fraud? 

One of the main purposes of Recovery.gov is to provide information to the American public about where their taxpayer dollars are going.  

Getting that information into the hands of citizens will help the Recovery Board to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse in Recovery spending.

Legal definitions of fraud can sound complicated, but, in truth, most fraud scams boil down to dishonest people lying to gain an advantage. 

By law, fraud is an intentional misrepresentation of a material fact made by one person to another person or entity with knowledge of its falsity, and to induce the other party to act with resulting injury or damage. 

Fraud also may be committed by a purposeful omission of material facts.

Here are some examples of Fraud, Waste, Abuse and/or Mismanagement commonly seen by Inspectors General:   

•	Billing directly or indirectly for services not rendered; misrepresenting services rendered; duplicating billing or billing for unnecessary services.

•	Theft of government property or embezzlement.

•	Kickbacks or bribery; misuse of government funds or government property resulting from bad practices, systems, or controls.

How Can You Help?

Even in these times of record unemployment and economic upheaval, there are still some people who would steal your tax dollars.  The Recovery Board would like to do everything possible to stop this criminal element, and that is where you come in.  

Your eyes and ears can be a great help to us in trying to prevent criminal activity by bringing problems to our attention early on.

The Recovery.gov website gives you the ability to find the Recovery projects going on in your own neighborhood.  You are in the best position to tell us if something is amiss.

Check out those projects! If you see activity that you think is fraudulent, you can report it in a number of ways:  

•	Submit a complaint form online. An electronic complaint form is available on this website. Just fill in the appropriate information and submit online.
 
•	Call the Recovery Board Fraud Hotline.  1-877-FWA-DESK. The hotline is open to receive calls from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern time, seven days a week. 

•	Fax your complaint to the Recovery Board. 1-877-FAX-FWA2.

•	Mail a complaint. Write the Recovery Board at Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, P.O. Box 27545, Washington, D.C., 20038-7958  Attention: Investigations

•	Contact the agency that sanctioned the work. Each federal agency has an Inspector General who works to prevent and address claims of fraud, waste, and abuse. A list of Inspector General fraud hotlines is available on Recovery.gov. 

And Remember

If you are a whistleblower and you have been singled out for disciplinary actions as a result of sharing information about fraud, waste and abuse, you have certain protections under the Recovery Act.  You can find more information about this on Recovery.gov.