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 supervisor who not only attended college on Government time but punished subordinates who refused to type his term papers during working hours. Another informed on the Defense Department, which was spending $1,245 on a rotating counter that cost only $124.50 commercially. The GAO has spent $3.4 million to operate the hot line over the past five years, and has identified about $20 million in misspent funds and projected savings of an additional $24 million. The Government offers no rewards. Says Carbone: "People just don't like to see their tax dollars abused." The number to call: 800-424-5454.