Editorial: DOGE finds more fraud -- where were the watchdogs?

Boston Herald, Boston Herald on Apr 18, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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Where there’s a will, there’s a way to commit fraud and waste money.

Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has unearthed far too much evidence of this in DC and beyond. His latest findings are eye-opening.

As the New York Post reported, DOGE claimed an initial review found that since 2020, 9,700 people whose birth dates aren’t for another 15 years have claimed $69 million in benefits, which are administered by state governments.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer presented the findings to President Donald Trump at an afternoon cabinet meeting, saying “we’re working with our (inspectors general) … (to) return those dollars to the Treasury.”

A DOGE post on X detailed:

An initial survey of Unemployment Insurance claims since 2020 revealed the following: 24.5k people over 115 years old claimed $59M in benefits; 28k people between 1 and 5 years old claimed $254M in benefits; 9.7k people with birth dates over 15 years in the future claimed $69M in benefits, and in one case someone with a birthday in 2154 claimed $41k.

“Your tax dollars were going to pay fraudulent unemployment claims for fake people born in the future!” Musk wrote.

None of this is surprising. A 2023 Associated Press analysis found that fraudsters potentially stole more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding; another $123 billion was wasted or misspent. Combined, the loss represents 10% of the $4.2 trillion the U.S. government had so far disbursed in COVID relief aid.

Last year, the Internal Revenue Service released updated numbers showing Criminal Investigation has investigated 1,644 tax and money laundering cases related to COVID fraud, potentially totaling $8.9 billion, with well over half that amount coming from cases opened in the previous year.

These cases include a wide range of criminal activity, including fraudulently obtained loans, credits and payments meant for American workers, families and small businesses under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Someone was asleep at the switch. A lot.

The losers? Taxpayers, of course.

And taxpayers are consumers. They pay for the services and maintenance of our government, and should receive competent leadership and oversight of where our money goes in return.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has made a point of saying her Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is “standing up for American consumers and holding Wall Street accountable.”

How about standing up for American taxpayers and holding government accountable?

Warren and other progressives target “greedy corporations” as villains ripping off the American people, but what of slipshod fiscal management by government agencies who lose track of who’s applying for benefits, if these people exist, and where the money is going?

We needed a DOGE long before Musk came along, but progressive pols stand firm in the belief that only the private sector is grabbing money from the pockets of the American people.

It doesn’t matter if it’s due to avarice or incompetence, the gushing fiscal pipe leaks uncovered by DOGE point to a desperate need for government financial oversight.

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