Message from the Welfare Inspector General
Welcome to the website of the New York State Office of the Welfare Inspector General.
We are a State agency commissioned to protect the integrity of social/human services programs, benefits and funds throughout the State of New York. Unlike almost every office of inspector general in the United States, including every other office of inspector general in New York, we are a prosecutor’s office: we deter fraud and abuse primarily by developing criminal cases that meet the objective and rigorous standards of state and/or federal law. In this respect, we provide an essential measure of protection both for the millions of New Yorkers who participate each year in social/human services programs, and for the public who provide billions of dollars in support of these programs. Criminal sanctions constitute one of our society's most fundamental responses to egregious acts of theft from and abuse of the poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged among us.
Our enabling statute, New York Executive Law section 74, gives us the responsibility of “prosecuting fraud, abuse or illegal acts within the [New York State] department of social services or local social services districts, or by contractees or recipients of public assistance services” and for “conducting and supervising investigations relating to the programs of the [New York State] department of social services.” Our fundamental mission requires us to address more than just isolated instances of unqualified individuals collecting social services benefits. In practice, relatively straightforward cases of this type can readily be handled by local governmental agencies. Instead, we develop cases that call for a state prosecutor’s special expertise, and that relate, in some significant respect, to New York’s multi-layered system of overlapping social/human services programs, agencies and jurisdictions. Cases involving systematic fraud in multiple programs are generally much more wasteful than common cases of isolated, low-level client fraud. Moreover, complex fraudulent schemes in social services programs, which are demanding to investigate and prosecute successfully, tend not to receive much attention, except from the largest or most proficient law enforcement agencies.
As an office of inspector general, we also offer an independent and public perspective on issues relating both to the integrity of social services programs and benefits and to the accountability of persons providing and receiving services and benefits.
We need your help. The State of New York, with its long-standing commitment to protect the poor, vulnerable and the disadvantaged, offers one of the most extensive and expensive networks of social/human services programs in the country. All of us–including providers, recipients and governmental employees–can help protect the integrity of these programs. We ask you to responsibly report instances of fraud, waste and abuse. You can make a report to us by clicking on the “File a Complaint Online” button on this page, or by navigating to the “File a Report” page; please complete the form there, and then mail or fax it to us. If we are unable by ourselves to act on your report, we will promptly refer it for action by another governmental agency. We also welcome any suggestions or ideas that you have. Your identity, if you choose to give it, will be kept confidential.
Visitors wishing to read about completed cases and projects may go to the “Reports, Releases, and Public Information” page.
For a summary of our mission and operations, along with a comment about changes in welfare policy and practice since our founding in 1992, please visit the “Mission and History” page.
For general information about social and health services programs and the governmental agencies that administer them, please review the “Links” page–in particular, the State's website for social services programs and services, myBenefits.ny.gov. We ourselves are not authorized to counsel those seeking to obtain benefits.
Anyone requiring assistance in accessing the contents of this website should contact our office directly at 718-923-4290.
Thank you for visiting with us. I ask for your continued support of our work in promoting integrity and accountability in social services programs throughout the State of New York.
—Sean Courtney, Inspector General
(Updated Sept. 2011)
