Welfare worker had escort licence, stole rent cheques

From the archives.

This welfare worker fraud story came to light after the BC government sold a batch of computer tapes at a government auction.

A former welfare case worker was accused of embezzling money and using her job to recruit workers for an escort service, a confidential document from computer tapes sold by the B.C. government has revealed.

She said the woman wrote cheques to herself using money that should have gone to pay for the rent of ministry clients.

The transcript is contained in a file on one of 41 computer tapes sold by the provincial government on May 17, 2005, at a public auction in Surrey. The tapes were sold for $101 in an auction lot along with other assorted computer equipment.

Among the other files on the tapes are records on thousands of people's medical status -- including a listing of some people with HIV or mental illness -- and a record of whether they are considered fit for work.

That file also contains social insurance numbers, provincial health numbers and other confidential information.

Another file on the tapes contains a listing of the names, social insurance numbers and internal government file numbers for more than 30,000 refugees.

While much of the sensitive information on those tapes deals with members of the public, there is also confidential information on government employees themselves.

http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=aebf3fbd-24ab-4225-a3bd-dd5628eb60ae&p=2

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Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
Email welfarelegal2004(at)hotmail(dot)com welfarelegal2004@hotmail.com
Blog http://welfarelegal.blogspot.com/