ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- Benjamin Franklin once said, "There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily fall than that of defrauding the government."
As the Department of Defense come to grips with a constrained fiscal environment, for now and the foreseeable future, an even higher premium is placed on maximizing every budget dollar and stamping out fraud, waste and abuse. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) needs your help in identifying and reporting fraudulent activities.
Besides protecting critical technologies and information, detecting/mitigating threats, providing global specialized services, conducting major criminal investigations and engaging foreign adversaries/threats offensively, a significant amount of AFOSI's resources are assigned to fraud investigations.
In the past few years combined, AFOSI has recovered well over a billion dollars defrauded from the USAF worldwide. It is pretty amazing, considering that only an estimated 10 percent of fraudulent activity is reported and/or discovered. Imagine how much money we could recover or save if more people were educated on what to look for. And, Air Force funds obtained through fraudulent means and subsequently recovered by AFOSI, which works closely with other federal law enforcement agencies, are returned to the Air Force.
We've all heard the words Fraud, Waste and Abuse, but would you really know what fraud is if you see it, and if so, how do you report fraud? Let's start off with defining fraud.
Fraud is obtaining money or some other benefit by deliberate deception. Simply put, Fraud is theft! Unfortunately, fraud can come in many forms and may be committed by those most familiar with the system, making it even more difficult to identify. Bribery, identity theft, money laundering, embezzlement, and submitting false documentation are a few examples.
Another common example is utilizing government equipment for personnel use. An example would be taking home and using government heaters for the weekend and returning them to your office on Monday. To help you become more aware of what to look for, the following are conditions that may create an environment susceptible to fraudulent activities:
General Fraud Indicators:
- Concentration of authority and/or responsibility of one particular person for an entire process. (For example, the GPC card holder is also the approval and billing official)
- Inadequate feedback on results of operations
- Lack of independent verification of the accuracy of records, transactions and reports
- Vague and confusing procedures and standards
- Lack of adequate supervision or oversight
- Inadequate physical safeguards over resources
- Failure to correct deficiencies identified by existing systems
Contracting & Acquisitions
- Bids, offers, or other official correspondence originating from the same business address
- Government-furnished equipment requested but not needed on current awarded contract.
- Government- furnished equipment not disposed of in a timely fashion after conclusion of contract.
Accounting & Finance Office
- Excessive number of expenses that are not required to be documented with receipts on travel vouchers.
- Excessive TDYs over weekend or holiday periods.
- No periodic review to certify eligibility of members for BAS and BAH.
Army and Air Force Exchange Services & Commissary
- Failure to ring up sales.
- Failure to scan items sold.
- Employee provides refund to customer although a sales slip does not pertain to the item returned.
- Vendors provide free items to employees.
- Over ordering or overstocking of merchandise.
Great; you now have an idea of some areas that are at risk to fraudulent activities. Now what? Well, here is the easy part. If you have questions, concerns, need more information or just want to talk, contact AFOSI Detachment 106 today! Here's how:
1) Come into the office, Bldg 100, Room C302
2) Want to remain anonymous?! Call us at 454 7820 or 455 0621
3) Don't feel like talking? Email us at AFOSI.Det106.office@ogn.af.mil
Other reporting avenues are available through the Inspector General's office, the Whistleblower Act (www.osc.gov) and Qui Tam provisions (www.justice.gov).