Washington: Money-Saving Phone Calls

Who you gonna call when someone's ripping off the Government? Fraud Busters! The 24-hour, toll-free line sponsored by the General Accounting Office (GAO) is designed to encourage tipsters to turn in workers, contractors and benefit recipients suspected of bilking the Federal Government. Since it opened in 1979, says a new GAO report, the hot line has handled 53,000 calls; 1,110 complaints have been substantiated, resulting in jail sentences, fines, reprimands and loss of Government contracts. Says Gary Carbone, director of the hot line: "The phones have been ringing off the hook."

One caller alerted officials to a Social Security field...

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