Minn. lawmakers unveil mnfraud.com whistleblower portal for reporting fraud

Representative Kristen Robbins, chair of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee, announced the launch of a state whistleblower portal, saying Minnesotans can now report suspected fraud at mnfraud.com.

“We are here today to talk about 1 way we are trying to help Minnesotans and that is by launching our new long promised whistleblower portal,” Robbins said. “So people can now go to mnfraud.com and there's a secure portal set up where you can enter your name and your address and the basics of what you want to identify as fraud. Our staff will take a look at it and then we will reach out to you to get more detail.”

Robbins said tips submitted through mnfraud.com will be reviewed by committee staff and, when appropriate, forwarded to the Office of Legislative Auditor (OLA), the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), the attorney general’s office or other law enforcement agencies. She cautioned that legislators cannot receive information protected under “chapter 13,” and directed people with protected health information to file directly with the OLA, the BCA or law enforcement.

A member of the public asked why the portal requires a first and last name, phone number and email, and whether anonymous reporting would be allowed. The questioner said, “Why is it required that folks put in contact info and their first and last name as part of this.”

Robbins responded that the site is secure and that staff need contact information to follow up. “You know, it is a secure website so I just want to make sure people understand we've embedded security so it's like a secure payment process system so it is secure but we need a way to follow-up with people. Getting anonymous allegations there's just then nothing I can do about it so I need to be able to follow-up with people or our staff,” she said.

Robbins noted the OLA already operates its own whistleblower portal, called Report Wrongdoing, which allows document uploads. She said she understands the BCA may be developing a consumer-facing reporting tool as well and encouraged Minnesotans with credible allegations of fraud to use mnfraud.com or existing agency portals.

The committee framed the portal as part of a broader effort to centralize leads and “triage” information, with the goal of directing credible allegations to the agencies or units with authority to investigate or prosecute.