Florida's New Task Force Battles Public Assistance Fraud

0:00Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer kicked off a new public assistance fraud protection task force right here in Tampa on Wednesday. The squad's laser focused on cracking down on scams, hitting programs like Medicaid, SNAP, EBT cards, and rental aid across the state. He's brought on Scott Strauss' special prosecutor to head it up with plans for deep audits, cross-checking applications, and swift arrests to bust. These schemes wide open. This is already linking up with state agencies, promising a relentless push that fraudsters won't see coming. This move hits hard because billions of dollars have vanished from federal programs lately, robbing working families and folks with disabilities who truly need the help while taxpayers foot the bill. Uthmeyer called it straight unnerving how criminals pray on the vulnerable like that. He's no stranger to this fight last week. His team clawed back a record $5.4 million in cryptocurrency from a scam hitting victims. In Florida and Massachusetts, plus, in Polk County, they napped eight people tied to

1:02an $8.8 million bank fraud-ranked spanning states. Ford has got a huge Medicaid population and tons of cash flowing in, so this task force is locking it down to make sure every dollar lands with the people who earn it, keeping the scammers on the run for good, that's your update from Tampa Bay News today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with The Story.