Low cost method employing time slots for thwarting fraud in the periodic issuance of food stamps, unemployment benefits or other governmental human services

摘要

Upon monthly revalidation of a benefit, the client's pin is read off of the client's benefit card and a PC produces a time slot assigned to the client who receives a food benefit allocation for the month only if the current date and time of day is within his assigned time slot. Since the assigned time slot is only 1-2 hours each month, and since the card holder stands in line, he simply doesn't have time to collect two food benefit allocations from two separated issue stations. He can't get a second food benefit card with a different time slot because the assigned time slot is tied to his unchanging biometric characteristics. However, since the time slots at each issue station are synchronized, he can report to any issue station for convenience. Transfer of a second fraudulently obtained card to an accomplice is thwarted by ink jet printing the applicant's facial image on the benefit card when issued, or using the pin to display his facial image on a CRT.