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DOGE Reveals Massive Unemployment Fraud

ElitePersonalFinance

Last Update: April 12, 2025 • Financial News •

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) recently revealed massive fraud in unemployment benefits, uncovering nearly $400 million in payments made to people who don’t exist.

“This is another incredible discovery by the DOGE team, finding nearly $400 million in fraudulent unemployment payments,” stated Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemern. “The Labor Department is committed to recovering Americans’ stolen tax dollars. We will catch these thieves and keep working to root out egregious fraud—accountability is here.”

The brunt of the fraudulent unemployment claims appears to belong to people who are ineligible due to being a child’s age or individuals born in the future. According to Elon Musk, 28,000 children between the ages of one and five claimed $254 billion in unemployment benefits. Additionally, 24,500 people over 115 years old claimed $59 million in benefits.

Furthermore, nearly 10,000 individuals with birthdays in the year 2041 or later claimed $69 million in benefits.

In a recent X post, Elon Musk chimed in on the matter:

“Your tax dollars were going to pay fraudulent unemployment claims for fake people born in the future!” wrote Musk. “This is so crazy that I had to read it several times before it sank in.”

Many across the X-sphere chimed in on the most recent findings, citing everything from significantly older adults taking advantage of the system to the possibility that this could be due to coding errors and not actual fraud. Others have speculated about the lack of prosecution and the possibility of money laundering within the government, most exemplified by the ongoing USAID investigations.

What is DOGE’s Role?

Headed by Elon Musk, DOGE is an advisory body established early during President Trump’s tenure to identify corruption within government operations and cut unnecessary spending and layoffs. Some of its actions include cutting back or eliminating entire federal programs.

As of April 8th, DOGE claims to have saved over $150 billion in government funds through various actions, including renegotiating existing contracts and canceling grants. On a per-taxpayer basis, that equates to roughly $931. There have also been ongoing conversations about paying a “DOGE” dividend or a percentage of overall savings to return it to the taxpayers.

Affected federal agencies have included the Social Security Administration (SSA) (roughly 7,000 positions), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (5,200 employees), the IRS (20% workforce reduction), and most notably, the Department of Education, which has seen roughly 50% of its entire staff laid off. Threats to suspend the processing of income-driven repayment plans have also caused a ripple effect, sparking fear among student borrowers.

Social Security Fraud Too

Another area DOGE has heavily investigated is the Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits. Currently, close to 10 million number holders are listed as age 120 or greater. However, many believe these numbers are due to outdated records and not the result of people receiving improper government payouts.

SSI is ripe for fraud, especially since someone could fraudulently collect retirement or disability benefits using a Social Security number from a deceased relative. The federal agency’s Death Master File has long been under scrutiny for its reliability in verifying deaths, with audit reports occasionally missing deceased individuals. This leads to everything from benefit interruptions to mistaken identity issues.

What About Medicare Fraud?

Beyond unemployment and Social Security, the Department of Government Efficiency has also uncovered fake Medicare billing machines. These fictitious providers have claimed nearly $100 billion in improper payments since 2021. This includes billings for services that were never rendered and irregularities such as multiple charges for a single patient on the same day.

In one case, a federal jury convicted three Miami-based individuals of scamming Medicare out of over $93 million for home health therapy services that were never provided. Even insurers have been cut in on the action, collecting $50 billion from Medicare for diseases that physicians no longer treat. This raises questions about how diagnoses are exaggerated to exploit the Medicare Advantage program.

HUD Section 8 Rental Assistance Too

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has also seen a heavy inflow of fraud in the past. This includes everything from fake landlords to fraudulent listings, where fake housing ads are posted on sites like Facebook Marketplace, promising Section 8–level pricing. Fraudsters collect application fees, security deposits, and first-month rent from unsuspecting tenants.

Once tenants arrive at the location, they discover that the property either doesn’t exist or isn’t connected to the person who posted the listing.

Fake Section 8 application websites have also been used for identity theft. Unsuspecting victims provide their Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information, which is then used for credit fraud or filing fake tax returns in the victim’s name.

As a result, the FTC and HUD OIG have long advised caution when dealing with anyone requesting upfront payments, using URLs that don’t end in .gov, or offering deals that seem too good to be true. The old adage applies: “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”

To learn more about the types of fraud associated with HUD Section 8, visit the Fraud Risk Inventory for the Tenant– and Project-Based Rental Assistance Program.

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