The Department of Government Efficiency claimed to uncover nearly $400 million in unemployment fraud claims, but it’s reportedly the same data federal investigators discovered years ago.
DOGE announced the $382 million in fake unemployment claims since 2020 in an April 9 post on X, which listed: 24,500 people over 115 years old claimed $59 million in benefits; 28,000 people between 1 and 5 years old claimed $254 million; 9,700 people with birth dates over 15 years in the future claimed $69 million; and someone with a birthday in 2154 claimed $41,000.
The Associated Press reported that DOGE’s findings had previously been uncovered by federal investigators on a larger scale years ago, and the $382 million is only a fraction of what officials were aware of.
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As “crazy” as the numbers seem, Amy Traub of the National Employment Law Project said DOGE’s findings are not “news to anyone” since they have already been widely reported and several congressional hearings have already addressed the matter.
Michele Evermore, a member of the Biden administration’s U.S. Department of Labor, accused DOGE of “trying to spin this narrative of, ‘Oh, government is inefficient, and government is stupid, and they’re catching these things that the government didn’t catch.’”
Both Traub and Evermore question DOGE’s intentions by calling attention to old fraud that has already been marked.
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Read the full story at blackenterprise.com.
