The number of people caught as welfare and Medicaid cheats in New York City skyrocketed by 45 percent last year, potentially costing taxpayers millions in fraudulent claims, figures obtained by The Post show.
Individuals nailed for gaming the system surged to 28,335 in 2008 from 19,476 the year before, according to the city Human Resources Administration.
A new Medicaid-fraud unit alone nabbed 10,379 cheaters.
Rita Mitilis, 37, was one of the scammers arrested earlier this month. She lived in a home worth more than $1 million and owned several luxury cars while receiving thousands in Medicaid benefits, Brooklyn prosecutors said.
Mitilis hid a bank account balance of $400,000 while she claimed more than $60,000 in Medicaid benefits for medical care for herself, her husband and her four children, according to investigators.
In addition to her home, she owns two rental properties in Brooklyn and two vacant lots in Florida as well as a commercial glass distribution business, Odyssey Glass and Storefront Inc., authorities said.
She faces grand larceny, welfare fraud and other charges and could be imprisoned for up to 15 years if convicted of the most serious offense.
George and Stamatina Nasopoulos were charged earlier this month with accepting more than $43,000 in Medicaid benefits, over a three-year period, prosecutors said.
At the time, George earned $1,000 a week as an office worker at Tip Top General Contracting, and Stamatina, a city public-school teacher, earned $60,000 a year.
On their applications for welfare, George claimed he worked at a Manhattan yogurt shop that investigators found did not exist and Stamatina claimed to be unemployed, according to the indictment. They face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Declan and Yafang McLoughlin fraudulently collected $13,961 in Medicaid between July 2004 and October 2008, according to authorities.
Declan McLoughlin's Medicaid applications claimed he earned $450 a week working for Sand Castle Realty - but he's actually the company's owner, prosecutors said. The couple also has real-estate investments, according to the indictment.
"The victims in this case are the taxpayers," said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.
HRA's staff of 177 fraud investigators discovered the corruption by cross-checking information from welfare recipients against a database of banks and other computer systems.
Phone and mail tips accounted for 19 percent, or 5,380, of the confirmed fraud cases.
The number of rip-off cases has steadily risen, with 17,047 in 2006 and 13,889 in 2005. That has occurred even as the city's welfare caseload has dropped to 343,144, nearly the lowest tally since 1963.
rblau@nypost.com
Individuals nailed for gaming the system surged to 28,335 in 2008 from 19,476 the year before, according to the city Human Resources Administration.
A new Medicaid-fraud unit alone nabbed 10,379 cheaters.
Rita Mitilis, 37, was one of the scammers arrested earlier this month. She lived in a home worth more than $1 million and owned several luxury cars while receiving thousands in Medicaid benefits, Brooklyn prosecutors said.
Mitilis hid a bank account balance of $400,000 while she claimed more than $60,000 in Medicaid benefits for medical care for herself, her husband and her four children, according to investigators.
In addition to her home, she owns two rental properties in Brooklyn and two vacant lots in Florida as well as a commercial glass distribution business, Odyssey Glass and Storefront Inc., authorities said.
She faces grand larceny, welfare fraud and other charges and could be imprisoned for up to 15 years if convicted of the most serious offense.
George and Stamatina Nasopoulos were charged earlier this month with accepting more than $43,000 in Medicaid benefits, over a three-year period, prosecutors said.
At the time, George earned $1,000 a week as an office worker at Tip Top General Contracting, and Stamatina, a city public-school teacher, earned $60,000 a year.
On their applications for welfare, George claimed he worked at a Manhattan yogurt shop that investigators found did not exist and Stamatina claimed to be unemployed, according to the indictment. They face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Declan and Yafang McLoughlin fraudulently collected $13,961 in Medicaid between July 2004 and October 2008, according to authorities.
Declan McLoughlin's Medicaid applications claimed he earned $450 a week working for Sand Castle Realty - but he's actually the company's owner, prosecutors said. The couple also has real-estate investments, according to the indictment.
"The victims in this case are the taxpayers," said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.
HRA's staff of 177 fraud investigators discovered the corruption by cross-checking information from welfare recipients against a database of banks and other computer systems.
Phone and mail tips accounted for 19 percent, or 5,380, of the confirmed fraud cases.
The number of rip-off cases has steadily risen, with 17,047 in 2006 and 13,889 in 2005. That has occurred even as the city's welfare caseload has dropped to 343,144, nearly the lowest tally since 1963.
rblau@nypost.com
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