Federal prosecutors in Boston have launched a new Benefit and Voter Fraud Team that will zero in on suspected theft of public benefits and alleged voter fraud across Massachusetts. The unit pulls together federal prosecutors and multiple watchdog agencies under one umbrella and adds a statewide public tip line, with U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley casting the effort as a crackdown on identity-theft schemes and benefit trafficking that officials say have drained taxpayer funds. The move marks a more aggressive, coordinated push by federal law enforcement across the state.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Foley tapped Assistant U.S. Attorneys Philip Mallard and Mark Grady as fraud coordinators for the new team, which will target suspected fraud in SNAP, MassHealth, federal child-care subsidies, and voter registration and voting. The office also rolled out a new hotline at 1-855-SCAM-MA-1 for tips and said the team will coordinate with Homeland Security Investigations, the HHS Office of Inspector General, USDA-OIG, and the Social Security Administration OIG. Officials described the effort as a force multiplier intended to centralize and speed up benefits-related investigations that cut across jurisdictions.
“This has gone on far too long and the buck stops with me,” Foley said in the office’s announcement, adding that the new coordinators bring “tremendous assets” to ongoing work. Local outlets quickly picked up the story and its practical details, with the Eagle-Tribune among those flagging the new unit and blasting out the hotline number to readers.
Why Prosecutors Say the Timing Fits
Federal and state officials have pointed to a recent string of cases that uncovered multi-state and identity-theft operations tied to SNAP and other public programs, while state auditors have logged real financial damage. The Bureau of Special Investigations in the office of State Auditor Diana DiZoglio reported nearly $12 million in public-benefit fraud for fiscal 2025, a tally the auditor’s office says highlights ongoing systemic vulnerabilities. Foley’s new team tracks with broader enforcement pushes described in recent reporting that note a national rise in benefit-fraud probes and the launch of federal anti-fraud tasking across the country.
Legal Stakes and Current Prosecutions
Prosecutors say the team’s caseload will run from alleged SNAP trafficking and MassHealth fraud to identity-theft schemes that tap benefits from multiple programs at once. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has already publicized a run of recent arrests tied to stolen identities and multi-program fraud, and federal charging documents stress that crimes such as unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits and aggravated identity theft can bring significant prison time and hefty fines. Federal officials have told reporters that dozens of investigations are already in the pipeline and that more cases are expected to be filed in the coming weeks.
For now, the new unit is both an investigative hub and a public point of contact. The office wants tips funneled to 1-855-SCAM-MA-1 and says it will work closely with state partners to chase leads and build evidence for potential prosecutions. Officials emphasize that the mission is to protect taxpayer-funded programs and go after criminal networks, not to interfere with lawful access for people who legitimately qualify for benefits.
Recent neighborhood-level cases have helped sharpen that sense of urgency. Hoodline recently highlighted a Mattapan prosecution tied to what federal authorities describe as a multimillion-dollar food-stamp scheme, the kind of trafficking the new team is designed to target. See Mattapan Corner Store Boss Admits for one local example that shows how these schemes can play out on a single Boston block.
