Conduent Incorporated (Nasdaq: CNDT), a global technology-led business solutions and services company, has implemented technologies for the South Carolina Department of Social Services (SCDSS) to help combat fraud and further enhance the security of the state’s Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) program. In South Carolina and other states, EBT fraud targeting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other cash benefits adds costs to government agencies and causes challenges for the recipients who depend on these benefits.
The fraud-reducing technologies are part of a suite of tools Conduent offers that can assist agencies and beneficiaries nationwide in protecting government aid for nutrition assistance, unemployment insurance and other cash-aid programs.
“SNAP beneficiaries rely on benefits to help supplement their monthly food budget to feed their families. When these benefits are stolen from them through fraud, that can result in less food on a family’s dinner table and hungry homes,” said Michael Leach, SCDSS State Director. “Our agency is continually working with Conduent to deploy new strategies and safeguards to prevent our clients from becoming fraud victims.”
Last year, Conduent implemented an advanced interactive voice response (IVR) system technology for South Carolina’s EBT customer service center that automatically identifies suspicious phone call patterns, such as an unusually high number of calls from a single phone number. When threats are identified, the technology can prevent access to EBT account information in real time.
South Carolina has also made an account protection feature available to beneficiaries, allowing them to easily and quickly lock and unlock their benefits card using Conduent’s ConnectEBT mobile app and cardholder portal. This feature, which applies to both in-state and out-of-state purchases, provides cardholders more control and security in managing their accounts and helps prevent perpetrators from gaining access to their benefits. Other states including Iowa, Maryland, New York and Ohio have also implemented this ConnectEBT feature.
In addition, for South Carolina, Conduent implemented the ability for cardholders to receive and manage usage alerts for identifying suspicious transaction activity on their EBT accounts. This feature can help beneficiaries monitor, spot and report the suspicious activity in real-time.
SCDSS says it will never send clients a text message about locking a card and requiring a SNAP recipient to contact a 1-888 number and provide the client’s EBT card number to unlock the benefits. To report suspicious activity or SNAP fraud, the public is encouraged to make a report to the USDA Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-424-9121 or online here.
“We’re proud and excited to bring these enhanced benefit protection features to South Carolina as well as other states,” said Wade Fairey, General Manager, Payments and Child Support Solutions at Conduent. “We’re providing agencies with security tools and technologies that help ensure states can most effectively serve their EBT constituents. These features are designed to help states curb unauthorized access to accounts and ensure that funds go to the intended benefits recipients.”
About Conduent
Conduent delivers digital business solutions and services spanning the commercial, government and transportation spectrum – creating valuable outcomes for its clients and the millions of people who count on them. The Company leverages cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation and advanced analytics to deliver mission-critical solutions. Through a dedicated global team of approximately 59,000 associates, process expertise and advanced technologies, Conduent’s solutions and services digitally transform its clients’ operations to enhance customer experiences, improve performance, increase efficiencies and reduce costs. Conduent adds momentum to its clients’ missions in many ways including disbursing approximately $100 billion in government payments annually, enabling 2.3 billion customer service interactions annually, empowering millions of employees through HR services every year and processing nearly 13 million tolling transactions every day. Learn more at www.conduent.com.
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