By Paige Winfield Cunningham

July 20, 2010

Tipsters reporting government fraud and abuse value their anonymity more than they value cold, hard cash—at least in Richmond.

After the Richmond City Council approved an awards program in 2005, responses to the city’s abuse hotline—known as the Fraud Squad—increased dramatically. But of the hundreds of citizens who have delivered allegations, only two have received rewards of $1,000 each.

That’s because to be rewarded, the city requires tipsters to reveal their identities. Since most of the callers are city employees, few are willing to step out of anonymity, says Richmond City Auditor Umesh Dalal.

“People don’t want to come forward and let their names be known,” said Dalal, who said that his office doesn’t track how many tips are anonymous but is certain they’re the vast majority. “We give them assurance there is going to be no retaliation for them complying—that is city ordinance—but we would have to go through accounts payable to request a check for them and when that happens, they fear peer-to-peer retaliation.”

And up-ing the ante hasn’t convinced more people to share their names. Because each of the two rewards issued were before 2007, the tipsters could receive $1,000 maximum even though Dalal says their tips resulted in savings of $73,000 and $107,000 for the city.

In 2007 the city changed the policy, increasing the possible award for a tip that results in money-savings. According to the auditor’s website, “city employees, who disclose misconduct which results in recovery or savings by the city in the amount $5,000 or more during one year, may be eligible to receive a monetary reward that equals ten percent of the money recovered or saved, up to $5,000.”

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