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Fraud hotline reports two anonymous tips; four attempted check‑fraud incidents totaling about $230,000 stopped
Summary
Laura Andre told the audit committee that two anonymous reports to the county fraud, waste and abuse portal were received since the last report; staff also detected four attempted check‑fraud cases totaling approximately $230,000 that were stopped by controls. Staff said about 130 vendors are enrolled in the county’s electronic payment portal to reduce live check risk.
Laura Andre, speaking for the county’s fraud, waste and abuse program, reported to the Audit Committee on May 19 that the county received two anonymous reports since the last update — one forwarded to the superintendent’s office for schools and one community report referred to local police.
Andre told the committee there were “four cases of attempted check fraud” since the last report, with a combined amount of “about $230,000,” and that the county’s fraud detection mechanisms stopped the payments before funds were released.
Committee members asked how the county is reducing reliance on paper checks to mitigate interception risk. Staff described a recently deployed vendor portal that allows vendors to register and enroll for electronic payments; once a vendor’s banking information is validated, payments can be made electronically instead of issuing live checks that travel by mail.
Shannandra reported that roughly 130 vendors (county and schools combined) are enrolled in the electronic‑payment program and that enrollment is increasing following outreach when the portal went live. Staff said they can provide enrollment statistics to the committee for future meetings.
The committee discussed continuing outreach to vendors, and members noted that increasing electronic payment adoption is a best practice to limit check‑related fraud. The update closed with staff saying they will continue to monitor the hotline and provide additional statistics to the committee when available.
The committee scheduled its next meeting for late November or early December to review audit deliverables and any follow‑up fraud reporting.
