Case Study: Los Angeles County DPSS achieves millions in fraud prevention and faster investigations with SAS

Uncovering social service fraud saves millions, reinforces public trust

Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) needed to uncover systemic fraud in programs that provide financial assistance, child care, health coverage and in‑home services to vulnerable residents. Fraud schemes ranged from false employment and fabricated child care providers to collusive networks that generated improper payments, and the county required a way to integrate many data sources and detect complex, networked fraud quickly and accurately.

DPSS implemented SAS Detection and Investigation for Government plus SAS Business Intelligence, using data mining, predictive models and social network analysis to score risk, visualize relationships and prioritize investigations. A pilot showed 85% accuracy and $6.8M in estimated cost avoidance; from May 2011–May 2015 the program generated 941 fraud referrals, 88 felony referrals and 1,538 caseworker follow‑ups (879 resulting in action). The system accelerated investigations, reduced false positives, curtailed collusive rings, lowered investigative costs and helped protect millions in taxpayer dollars.

Los Angeles County DPSS