The South Carolina Office of the Inspector General
Summary
South Carolina's executive-branch fraud watchdog, created in 2012: $1.86 million and 16 people in FY2025, whose investigations recovered or prevented $37,973,856 in waste -- about $0.33 for every resident of the state it audits.
What is this organization?
What does it do?
In fiscal year 2025, the office addressed 492 complaints⧉ filed through its toll-free hotline (1-855-SCFRAUD), website, mail, and walk-ins, closing each in an average of six calendar days, on top of 3,207 non-jurisdictional hotline calls it redirected elsewhere. Its investigators and auditors completed thirteen forensic-accounting investigations, eight waste-and-mismanagement risk assessments, and six misconduct investigations⧉, issuing 112 recommendations that agencies implemented in full, and referred eleven cases to law enforcement, the State Ethics Commission, or the Department of Revenue⧉.
What does it cost to run — money and people?
Running the office cost $1,864,490 in actual state general-fund spending in FY2025⧉ -- $1.41 million on personnel and operations, $453,387 in benefits, and $149 for the hotline -- against a $1,950,167 FY2026 projection⧉. Its FY2025 org chart lists 16 positions⧉: an Inspector General, a deputy, a program manager, an administrative manager, six senior auditors, and six investigators -- 14 filled, two vacant during the year⧉. Divided across South Carolina's 5,570,274 residents⧉, that's about $0.33 per resident.
View data as table
| FY12 | 172 | |
|---|---|---|
| FY13 | 206 | |
| FY14 | 332 | |
| FY15 | 618 | |
| FY16 | 431 | |
| FY17 | 539 | |
| FY18 | 602 | |
| FY19 | 339 | |
| FY20 | 753 | |
| FY21 | 3,195 | COVID-19 State of Emergency spike |
| FY22 | 589 | |
| FY23 | 539 | |
| FY24 | 443 | |
| FY25 | 492 |
Why is it good for society?
The report frames the SIG's niche, quoting the Massachusetts official who created the first state inspector general's office, as ["that vast middle ground between the ability to review all state transactions... without the power to investigate [the Auditor], and the power to investigate allegations of fraud... [the Attorney General]"](https://oig.sc.gov/sites/oig/files/Documents/Reports/Annual%20Reports_Audits/SIG_FY2024-25_Annual_Accountability_Report.pdf). In FY2025 that produced $37,973,856 in recoveries and prevented waste⧉ from its recommendations, plus concrete accountability: a senior procurement official who took bribes and kickbacks from vendors was confirmed, suspended, and later resigned⧉.
- A 16-person office (14 filled during FY2025) covering 106 executive-branch agencies with a $26+ billion combined budget and 60,000 employees, on $1.86 million a year -- about $0.33 per South Carolina resident.
- FY2025's $37,973,856 in recoveries and prevented waste was well below FY2024's $157,914,575, a reminder that this figure is driven by a handful of large findings each year, not a steady rate.
Your handles. Report fraud, waste, or abuse in South Carolina's executive branch through the SIG's online complaint form or its toll-free hotline, 1-855-SCFRAUD* (1-855-723-7283) -- identities are kept confidential under S.C. Code §1-6-100⧉, with narrow exceptions. Mail reaches the office at 111 Executive Center Dr., Suite 204, Columbia, SC 29210-8416. The office's full library of investigations and annual reports posts as each is completed.
Sources(4) ▾
- South Carolina Office of the State Inspector General, Office of the State Inspector General -- 2025 Annual Accountability Report (Agency Code D250) (2025-07-30) — The SIG's own state-mandated annual accountability report (S.C. Code §1-1-810), covering FY2024-25 actuals and FY2026 strategic-plan targets -- the source for this entry's mission/statute text, staffing narrative and organizational chart, FY2025 Budget Data table, workload and performance-measure statistics, complaint-volume history, and the substantiated procurement-fraud case summary. Signed and submitted 7/30/2025 by Inspector General Brian D. Lamkin (Submission Form, p.29). oig.sc.gov · original document
- South Carolina Legislature (scstatehouse.gov), South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 1, Chapter 6 -- Office of the State Inspector General (2025-09-24) — The codified statute creating and governing the office -- the source for this entry's creation date/act number, the Inspector General's appointment process and term, and the statutory duty language quoted in 'What is this organization?' scstatehouse.gov · original document
- South Carolina Office of the State Inspector General, FAQs -- SC Office of Inspector General (2026-07-16) — The office's own complaint-filing FAQ -- the source for the hotline number, mailing address, online complaint-form path, and the confidentiality statute cite used in the 'Your handles' note. oig.sc.gov · original document
- U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Population Growth Slows Due to Historic Decline in Net International Migration (Vintage 2025 population estimates) (2026-01-27) — The Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 population-estimates release -- the source for South Carolina's July 1, 2025 resident population, used as this entry's per-resident KPI denominator. Wayback save requests for this page returned 429 (rate-limited) at capture time and the availability API shows no existing snapshot; the URL above is the direct link on census.gov. census.gov · original document
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South Carolina's Office of the State Inspector General was created by 2012 Act No. 105⧉, effective January 1, 2012, as an independent watchdog inside the Governor's office. Under S.C. Code §1-6-20(B)⧉, the State Inspector General -- appointed by the Governor with Senate consent to a four-year term -- investigates "fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, misconduct... [and] violations of state or federal law... in agencies," covering 106 executive-branch agencies, boards, commissions, and public colleges and universities⧉.