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Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse

Members of the public and Treasury employees may file a complaint with the Treasury Office of Inspector General (OIG).

What types of activity should I report to Treasury OIG?

Treasury OIG is responsible for investigating matters related to Treasury employees, programs, contracts, grants, loans, funds, or its bureaus with the exception of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Matters related to the IRS should be filed with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The following types of violations should be reported to our office:

Allegations of Fraud Associated with Treasury Operations

  • Threats Against Treasury Employees or Facilities (not IRS)
  • Criminal and Serious Treasury Employee Misconduct
  • Fraud Involving Treasury Contracts, Grants, Guarantees, and Federal Funds
  • Treasury Financial Programs and Operations Crime
  • Cyber Threats Against Treasury Systems and Cyber-Enabled Financial Crimes Fraud
  • Fraud Related to Criminals Impersonating Treasury Agents (not IRS) and Employees
  • Fraud Related to Persons Representing Themselves as “Sovereign Citizens” Submitting Fictitious Financial Instruments to Treasury, Financial Institutions, Private Companies, and Citizens
  • Unregistered and Unlicensed Money Service Businesses (MSB)
  • Travel and Purchase Card Fraud by Treasury Employees
  • Theft and/or Abuse of Treasury Government Property

Allegations of Fraud Associated with Treasury Programs

  • Criminal allegations associated with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Grants
  • Criminal allegations associated with certain COVID-19 related programs:
    • CARES Act, Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) for the District of Columbia or State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial governments
    • CARES Act, Payroll Support Program (PSP) for Air Carriers and Certain Contractors
    • Homeowners Assistance Fund (HAF)
    • Coronavirus State and Local Recovery Funds (SLRF) and the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI)
    • Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) - In addition to filing a complaint with our office, we strongly recommend you also report ERA fraud to the local agency responsible for disbursing Rental Assistance funds (the entity who accepts and processes ERA applications for rental assistance) or the District of Columbia, Tribe, Tribally Designated Housing Entity (TDHE), Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), State, Local government, or Territorial Agency that oversees the program.  That agency may be able to take immediate action regarding the issue or redirect funds appropriately.
  • Please be aware that local law enforcement is a valuable resource for many issues of the type you may also refer to this Office.  Local law enforcement may offer advantages such as the ability to interact quickly with the community, prosecute criminal offenses, and often has comprehensive victim, witness, and social services support programs which may better offer real-time assistance.   Your State, Local, Tribal, Territorial or DC law enforcement agency with primary law enforcement jurisdiction is usually the same agency that responds to 911 calls.
  • For information and procedures on submitting a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), visit Treasury's FOIA page at Freedom of Information Act.

 

Additional Resources:

Internal Revenue Service

Matters involving IRS programs, employees, or operations should be reported to the Treasury Inspector General for the Tax Administration (TIGTA) at 1-800-366-4484 or Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.  

Tax Fraud

Matters involving tax fraud schemes, money laundering, abusive return preparers, questionable refunds, identity theft, and international tax avoidance schemes should be reported to IRS Criminal Investigation at Criminal Investigation.

Direct Express

To file a formal complaint regarding your Direct Express Card with the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, please send an email to direct.express@fiscal.treasury.gov. This email address should be used for escalated card holder assistance and formal complaints only.  This email address should not be used for general card holder assistance regarding the Direct Express card.  For general inquires please call the Direct Express card toll free Customer Service Department number on the back of your card or visit web.usdirectexpress.com.

TreasuryDirect

The TreasuryDirect customer support center is experiencing significant delays after an unprecedented surge in call and case volume.  In order to provide appropriate security measures and account verification, customer support call center representatives assist customers on an individual basis.  The unprecedented growth in the savings bond program has created customer service challenges, but TreasuryDirect has taken the following actions to address the issues:

  • shifting existing resources to the call center
  • bringing on additional temporary staff to assist with calls and mailed-in paperwork
  • updating the TreasuryDirect website and phones to quickly provide answers to common questions
  • developing near-term technical enhancements to the TreasuryDirect system to increase customer self-service while continuing ongoing work on a comprehensive modernization

Treasury Offset Program

The Treasury Offset Program (TOP) collects past-due (delinquent) debts that people owe to state and federal agencies. TOP matches people and businesses who owe delinquent debts with money that federal agencies are paying. To the extent allowed by law, when a match happens, TOP withholds (offsets) money to pay the delinquent debt.  

Whistleblower Reprisal

If you believe you have suffered an adverse action in retaliation for a protected disclosure, you may file a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel at U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

Internal Revenue Service Economic Impact Payments

Please visit Internal Revenue Service to obtain information or file a complaint regarding Economic Impact Payments (EIP), including lost/stolen/destroyed/not received EIPs, EIPs issued on debit cards, EIP status checks, and returning EIPs.

Small Business Administration Funding

  • Please visit Paycheck Protection Program to obtain information or file a complaint regarding the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).  
  • Please visit COVID-19 EIDL to obtain information or file a complaint regarding the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL).  
  • Please visit Restaurant Revitalization Fund to obtain information or file a complaint regarding the Small Business Administration's Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF).

Department of Education Funding

Please visit CARES Act Emergency Relief to obtain information or file a complaint regarding the Department of Education's Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund, or Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund.

Department of Labor Unemployment Funding

Please visit Unemployment Insurance, including Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), to obtain information regarding unemployment insurance benefits and state unemployment programs. 

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency/Home Loans

Matters involving a home loan such as refinancing and modifications, or that involve a conflict between you and your financial institution may be reported to the Hope Hotline at or 1-800-613-6743 or through resources available at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) site, HelpWithMyBank.com.

Federal Insurance Office

The Federal Insurance Office (FIO) monitors all aspects of the insurance industry and deals with trends and analysis in the areas of property and casualty insurance, life insurance, accident insurance and health insurance. The Federal government has a limited role in insurance oversight as insurance industry regulations are state-based.  Complaints involving insurance companies should be made to state regulatory agencies, not the FIO.

Counterfeit Currency

Please visit the United States Secret Service's website at Counterfeit Investigations to obtain information regarding counterfeit currency.  This site also contains instructions for reporting counterfeit currency to the United States Secret Service.

Office of Inspector General Hotline Complaint Number

The Office of Inspector General has received information indicating that our hotline complaint number has been compromised.  If you receive a call from someone claiming to be from the Treasury Department requesting funds or threatening arrest, hang up immediately.  These calls are fraudulent.

 

Information about filing a complaint with treasury oig:

Filing an Anonymous Complaint

Please be advised that filing anonymously may limit our ability to seek further information or conduct a complete investigation.  

Filing a Confidential Complaint

You may request your complaint be handled confidentially if you believe disclosing your identity may create a hardship or place you in danger.  If you elect confidentiality, it is suggested (but not required) that you provide us with as much contact information as you are comfortable with, in the event we need additional details.

Treasury Employees Filing a Confidential Complaint

Treasury OIG will not disclose the identity of any Treasury employee who requests confidentiality, without the consent of the employee, unless the IG determines such disclosure is unavoidable during the course of the investigation. 

Members of the Public Filing a Confidential Complaint

Complainants who are not Treasury employees do not have an automatic right to confidentiality under Section 7(b) of the IG Act.  Treasury OIG will protect the identity of non-Treasury complainants to the maximum extent allowed by law and only release information to those officials who have a need to know.

What to Include in your Complaint (be as specific as possible)

  • Relevant names, dates, times, locations.
  • If applicable, the name of the contractor or grantee, contract or grant numbers, and award dates.
  • A detailed description of the alleged wrongdoing, the Treasury facility, personnel, and/or program affected.
  • How you became aware of the problem, efforts made thus far to correct the problem, and current status of the problem cited by the alleged wrongdoing.
  • Please DO NOT include hyperlinks when filing complaints as these hyperlinks will not be accessed when evaluating the complaint.

 

What to Expect After Submitting a Hotline Complaint

  • We cannot provide information regarding what action(s) have been taken on any allegation reported to our office, including case status. 
  • Federal regulations prohibit the disclosure of information contained in law enforcement records even to the individual submitting the allegation(s). 
  • Unless you are contacted directly by one of our investigators, there will be no communication from our office, outside of correspondence which may advise you that your matter has been referred to another entity if your submitted allegations do not fall under the jurisdiction or cognizance of this Office.

Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse

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