from the the-number-you-have-dialed-was-never-connected dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
TracFone Wireless is facing a potential $6 million fine for allegedly defrauding a government program that provides discount telecom service to poor people.
The Federal Communications Commission proposed the fine against TracFone yesterday, saying the prepaid wireless provider obtained FCC Lifeline funding by "enroll[ing] fictitious subscriber accounts." TracFone improperly sought and received more than $1 million from Lifeline, the FCC said.
The FCC press release said:
TracFone's sales agents—who were apparently compensated via commissions for new enrollments—apparently manipulated the eligibility information of existing subscribers to create and enroll fictitious subscriber accounts. For example, TracFone claimed support for seven customers in Florida at different addresses using the same name, all seven of whom had birth dates in July 1978 and shared the same last four Social Security Number digits. The Enforcement Bureau's investigation also found that, in 2018, TracFone apparently sought reimbursement for thousands of ineligible subscribers in Texas.
Today's proposed fine is based on the 5,738 apparently improper claims for funding that TracFone made in June 2018 and includes an upward adjustment in light of the company's egregious conduct in Florida.
The FCC's Lifeline program, which is paid for by Americans through fees imposed on phone bills, provides monthly subsidies of up to $9.25 per household for phone and broadband service provided to eligible low-income subscribers.
[...] TracFone said it would respond "at the appropriate time" and that "we take seriously our stewardship of public dollars and will continue to focus on connecting millions of low-income customers to school, jobs, healthcare, and essential social services," according to Reuters.
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by fadrian on Tuesday April 07 2020, @06:02AM (2 children)
This is what always happens with these partnerships - the taxpayer gets screwed by the private partner making it more difficult to get good programs enacted. Of course, those of a Libertarian bent don't help, insisting that the private part of these partnerships must always be more efficient than that ol' debbil guv'mint and making it impossible to provide programs that don't get ripped off by the private sector.
That is all.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by driverless on Tuesday April 07 2020, @12:02PM
For a company making up to $2 billion a quarter, that's not a bad result. They can pay it from petty cash and move on their next scam. Maybe they could even pay the FCC in advance for the next half-dozen scams they run.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @07:35PM
that's what happens with these disgusting programs where people with no integrity beg for stolen money. fuck them and the gubbermint they rode in on.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday April 07 2020, @07:19AM
if you incentivize something through particular metrics, you had better check both the reality of those metrics, and what other behviours have been 'let slide' while the company focuses on the payment-related numbers..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @10:03AM (2 children)
>> we take seriously our stewardship of public dollars
How about cutting them off from the program for three years? During that time, the Mexican criminals running TracFone can consider what it means to take stewardship seriously.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Tuesday April 07 2020, @02:20PM
Jail time? Is this not fraud?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @04:47PM
Whatever punishment they get it should be doubled for incompetence. The didn't even bother to make up unique fake IDs.