Industry leaders: Feds can more effectively combat fraud, but privacy rights at risk

(The Center Square) – The federal government faces fraudsters utilizing technology more powerfully than ever before to take advantage of taxpayer-funded programs and steal taxpayer dollars. But it must be careful with which tools it uses to do reduce or eliminate fraud, as the wrong ones could put personal liberties at risk, witnesses warned at a Congressional hearing Wednesday.

Fraud in government assistance and benefits programs has become a focus of the Trump administration, particularly since more than $9 billion in taxpayer dollars were fraudulently spent in Minnesota and other states has been revealed. Numerous hearings have been held on Capitol Hill for months focusing on fraud identification and prevention; the Treasury Department has developed new initiatives to combat fraud involving federal funds, and combatting fraud has become a political talking point for Republicans looking to maintain their majorities in the U.S. House of Representative and Senate.