About Ohio Fraud Tracker

What is this?

Ohio Fraud Tracker is a public transparency tool that aggregates federal funding data for Ohio recipients. It helps journalists, researchers, and citizens identify potential fraud indicators by cross-referencing federal awards with business registration status.

The goal is to make government spending data more accessible and help identify cases where federal funds may have been awarded to inactive, dissolved, or non-existent businesses.

Data Sources

• USAspending.gov

  Federal grants, contracts, and loans awarded to Ohio recipients. Updated regularly from the official U.S. government spending database.

• SBA PPP Loans

  Paycheck Protection Program loan data from the Small Business Administration. Includes loan amounts, forgiveness status, and lender information.

• Ohio Secretary of State

  Business registration and status data used to cross-reference recipients and identify inactive entities.

How Flagging Works

Recipients are automatically flagged when:

• Business status shows as "inactive", "dissolved", or "cancelled" in Ohio SOS records
• Recipient received federal funds after their business dissolution date
• Multiple awards to the same address with different business names
• Unusually high concentration of awards relative to business size

Note: Flags indicate potential issues requiring investigation, not confirmed fraud.