FCC Inspector General Issues Advisory Regarding Fraud in the Lifeline Program

The Federal Communications Commission’s Office of Inspector General has issued an advisory to alert Lifeline carriers, beneficiaries, and the public to a number of fraudulent enrollment practices found pervasive across the IG’s ongoing investigations targeting Lifeline carriers and the carriers’ sales agents. Many of these enrollment practices rely on identity fraud and the manipulation of personal information, including enrollee names, to evade the program’s safeguards. The advisory describes simple tricks used by fraudsters to create phantom enrollments. Such fraud results in substantial losses to the Universal Service Fund every year and diverts telecom support away from the program’s intended beneficiaries.