Milwaukee County’s goal is to enrich your life by providing essential services that meet your needs and those of your family, neighbors, co-workers and friends.
We enhance the quality of life in Milwaukee County through great public service.
Milwaukee County is home to over 950,000 people living in one of 19 communities, which range in size from the City of Milwaukee, with 595,000 residents, to the Village of River Hills, with roughly 1,600 residents.
Still a manufacturing stronghold, the region features 16 Fortune 1000 companies and thousands of others in the financial services, medical device, hospitality and retailing industries.
Find information about things to do and happenings in Milwaukee County.
In an effort to promote honesty, efficiency and public confidence in government and its representatives, the Audit Services Division investigates allegations of fraud, waste and abuse in Milwaukee County government operations. These allegations could involve county employees, elected officials, vendors, contractors and program participants. Employees and members of the public who report allegations of misconduct are essential to minimizing instances of fraud, waste and abuse.
Fraud is gaining something of value through willful misrepresentation. The person intended to provide untrue information in order to get something. Fraud may include:
Waste is squandering of money or resources, even if not explicitly illegal. Waste is hard to spot as waste can be subjective. Waste occurs when county resources are not managed or not used efficiently to fulfill the county’s mission. Waste may include:
Abuse is behavior that is deficient or improper when compared with behavior that a prudent person would consider reasonable and necessary business practice given the facts and circumstances or misuse of authority or position for personal financial interests or those of an immediate or close family member or business associate. Abuse may include:
The Audit Services Division does not investigate:
When making a report, provide dates, times, names, the person’s role in Milwaukee County, locations, possible witnesses, equipment or vehicles used and any other information that will help in an investigation.
You may remain anonymous when reporting fraud, waste or abuse in Milwaukee County! If you wish to remain anonymous, we recommend that you use the Fraud Reporting Form to submit your concerns. You may also make a report by telephone, email, mail or fax. Be aware that your contact information may be associated with those reports. However, if you state in your phone call, email, letter or fax that you wish to remain anonymous as a condition of providing information, we will keep your report confidential to the greatest extent possible under the law.
Complaints of alleged fraud, waste and abuse are reviewed to determine the best response to the complaint. The review process considers a number of factors such as the provided information, the impact the alleged actions have on county operations and the use of investigation resources. Generally, there are three options for responding to a complaint: open an investigation, refer to a more appropriate office, department or agency or decline to take further action for one or more reasons.
Investigation generally has two outcomes: Substantiated, meaning that the evidence supports that the alleged fraud, waste or abuse occurred; or unsubstantiated, meaning that the available evidence cannot support that the alleged fraud, waste or abuse occurred. An investigation may be administratively closed, meaning the investigation is closed for one or more reasons prior to reaching a determination.
Phone: (414) 933-7283 or (414) 93-FRAUD
Fax: (414) 223-1895
Email: [email protected]
Fraud Reporting Form
633 West Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 904 Milwaukee, WI 53203
Downloadable PDF with information on reporting fraud and other crimes
901 N. 9th Street, Room 301 Milwaukee, WI 53233 (414) 278-3001
633 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 904 Milwaukee, WI 53203 (414) 278-4206