The Office of State Inspector Genearl protects the integrity of Pennsylvania’s public assistance programs and taxpayer dollars. We make sure resources are going to those who need them most. Every year, OSIG saves tens of millions of tax dollars through its fraud prevention work.
OSIG and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) work together to find and stop public benefits fraud and theft. Our agents are in every county across the state working with DHS county assistance and district offices.
Some of the public benefits programs protected by OSIG include:
Preventing Public Benefits Fraud
OSIG and DHS work together to prevent public benefits fraud. DHS sends select benefits applications to OSIG for review.
Our agents then do on-the-ground investigations to help DHS determine if someone is eligible for benefits or if their benefits should be reduced or closed.
This protects taxpayer dollars to make sure resources are going to those who need them most. Every year, OSIG saves tens of millions of tax dollars through its fraud prevention work.
Businesses like grocery or convenience stores can commit public benefits fraud. Stores will buy EBT cards from the benefit recipients. If you know of a business doing something similar please report it to OSIG.
Any time a public assistance recipient gets more benefits than they are eligible for, it is considered an overpayment. The federal government requires overpayments to be paid back. OSIG collects these payments and returns the funds to the Commonwealth.
Overpayments occur for many reasons, including innocent mistakes by a client or the Commonwealth, or by fraud. No matter what the cause, benefits recipients are still required to pay back any money they weren’t eligible to receive.
If you need help making a payment, please call 1-800-932-0935.