Fraud Alerts in Public Health Based on Audit Trails

Abstract

Fraud detection and prevention in the public health sector are essential for preserving resource integrity and service quality. Fraud in this context can include financial misappropriations and data manipulation, which not only waste public funds but also compromise healthcare quality and accessibility. This article introduces an audit trail-based approach to identify and rank potential fraud cases involving public health employees in Brazil. Our ranking system highlights cases with higher fraud likelihood based on the analysis of suspicious activity patterns and travel records. Extending prior work, we also introduce three additional analyses on the alerts: temporal evolution, geographical distribution, and occupation-specific trends. Our results enable auditors to trace trends, regional irregularities, and occupation-specific risks, thus enhancing the accuracy and impact of fraud detection strategies.