Florida authorities can be excused for thinking fraud when they have 35 known deaths from Hurricane Wilma but 263 applications for funeral aid.

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Of the aid requests the Federal Emergency Management Agency has received, 230 came from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach where a total of 20 died.

The chasm between the reported death toll and the soaring number of FEMA claims has raised fraud fears and reignited questions about the agency's payment policies, the Naples Daily News said.

"I think people know they can game the system if there are a lot of applications flooding in," said Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla. "Simply dying during the time of a storm doesn't entitle someone to a claim."

The deluge of Wilma funeral claims "sounds similar" to the apparent abuse that afflicted FEMA last year after four hurricanes hit Florida, Foley said. At least 203 of the 319 claims paid by the agency were later reported unrelated to the storms.