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Stolen IDs sold for ‘Happy Meal’ prices fuel billions in US benefit fraud
White House anti-fraud task force flags $6.3 billion in potential government fraud
White House Anti-Fraud Task Force Vice Chair Andrew Ferguson discusses the task force’s discovery of $6.3 billion in potential fraudulent government contracts, criticizing Democrat governors for allowing widespread fraud and even facilitating it for decades. Ferguson reveals examples of lavish spending by alleged fraudsters and highlights states like California and Hawaii’s failure to prosecute fraud despite receiving federal funds.
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Buying a stolen identity can cost less than a fast-food meal, enabling criminals to use AI and internet tutorials to file fraudulent benefit claims from anywhere in the world, a former inspector general warned Congress on Wednesday.
Lawmakers are already ramping up scrutiny of fraud in major federal aid programs — including unemployment, Medicaid and food assistance — as criminals leverage AI, stolen identities and online tools to exploit systems and drain billions in taxpayer dollars.
Federal watchdogs previously estimated that more than $100 billion in pandemic-era unemployment benefits alone may have been lost to fraud, much of it tied to weak identity verification and oversight gaps.
VANCE ANTI-FRAUD TASK FORCE SUSPENDS 447 HOSPICES IN LOS ANGELES OVER MORE THAN $600M IN SUSPECTED FRAUD
Scammers are sending deceptive tracking links that mimic real carriers, hoping rushed shoppers won’t notice red flags. (Silas Stein/Picture Alliance)
«The internet has reduced barriers to fraud,» said retired inspector general Bob Westbrooks during a House Oversight Committee hearing on fraud in federally funded state programs.
«Offenders can find free tutorials online, purchase stolen identities for the price of a Happy Meal, and file claims from anywhere in the world. With automation tools, they can even submit multiple claims across multiple states,» added Westbrooks, who spent nearly three decades in public service focused on anti-fraud efforts.
He warned that «the prevalence of fraud discussions online normalizes this behavior and reduces the fear of getting caught and punished.»
Massive fraud schemes in recent years have underscored the scope of the problem, including a $250 million «Feeding Our Future» case in Minnesota that resulted in dozens of convictions, and a roughly $100 million welfare scandal in Mississippi that led to criminal charges and high-profile prosecutions.
The issue has become so glaring that President Donald Trump appointed Vice President J.D. Vance as the new ‘fraud czar’ and tasked him with addressing taxpayer theft – especially in blue states where local officials refuse to cooperate with the administration.
MINNESOTA’S ANTI-FRAUD SPENDING HAS QUIETLY BALLOONED, LEAVING TAXPAYERS TO PAY FOR FAILURE TWICE
Other auditors and federal officials have pointed to systemic weaknesses in benefit programs, including payments to deceased individuals, duplicate claims filed across multiple states and limited real-time verification of eligibility.
«There’s no one-size-fits-all solution,» Westbrooks said, noting the complexity of policing massive federal programs.
«To be frank, it is simply impossible or impracticable to design a 100% fraud-proof program,» he added.
Still, Westbrooks emphasized that fraud should not be accepted as a cost of doing business.
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A person dressed as an internet hacker is seen with binary code displayed on a laptop screen in this double exposure illustration photo. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images)
«The American public should reasonably expect that public money is not used to pay dead people, incarcerated individuals, or duplicate claims in the same state or across states, and that public funds are otherwise appropriately safeguarded,» Westbrooks said.
«Officials should aggressively but responsibly adopt new technology tools in the fight against fraud.»
He added that safeguarding taxpayer dollars will require «a coordinated and comprehensive, risk- and data-driven approach» to reduce losses and restore public trust.
corruption crime, costs, aid, cybercrime, minnesota fraud exposed, enforcement, artificial intelligence
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Biden-appointed judge orders Trump to restore slavery, climate change references at national parks
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A Biden-appointed federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore exhibits and other materials at national parks that highlighted slavery, climate change and other leftist ideology after they were removed under a directive targeting displays deemed disparaging to America.
U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts, appointed to the federal bench by former President Joe Biden in 2021, issued a preliminary injunction Friday requiring the administration to reverse the changes and pause any further removals amid legal challenges.
The move comes amid the America 250 celebrations that will crescendo on July 4.
The Interior Department in a statement called Kelley a «liberal activist judge» and said it was reviewing its options to appeal its removal of what Secretary Doug Burgum rebuked as «improper partisan ideology.»
‘ACTIVIST’ JUDGES KEEP TRYING TO CURB TRUMP’S AGENDA – HERE’S HOW HE COULD PUSH BACK
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and President Donald Trump sought to remove ‘improper partisan ideology,’ but a former President Joe Biden judge rebuked as a ‘liberal activist’ has ordered them to restore it. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«This ruling is from a liberal activist judge,» an Interior spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Sunday. «The Department will look at our appeal options while we celebrate UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House this weekend in honor of our nation’s 250th with the greatest president in the history of our country – President Donald J. Trump.»
Trump’s March 27, 2025 executive order, «Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,» sought to restore American heritage to national parks and monuments that were «changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history» after the race riots of 2020 that might have ultimately helped fuel Biden’s election.
Trump ordered Interior to «take action, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law,» to ensure that all U.S. government descriptions and depictions do not «inappropriately disparage Americans past or living» – instead putting «focus on the greatness» of America.
While Kelley wrote that the plaintiffs had shown the administration’s actions were meant «to rewrite the Nation’s history with a white-out pen,» Trump said he had issued the order because of the «false reconstruction» of U.S. history under Biden, the president who appointed her.
LIZ PEEK: TRUMP DECLARES WAR ON WOKE—AND THIS BELOVED MUSEUM IS IN HIS CROSSHAIRS
Removing the disparagement of Americans and highlighting of U.S. greatness set a «dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitization,» according to Kelley.
FEDERAL AGENCIES SCRUB CLIMATE CHANGE FROM WEBSITES AMID TRUMP REBRANDING
The judge also ordered the administration to file weekly status reports detailing its progress in restoring the affected materials.
Among the materials Burgum’s Interior removed were an exhibit at Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park describing the ownership of enslaved people by George Washington, the nation’s first president, and signage detailing climate threats at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
AMERICAN HISTORY WON’T BE DISPLAYED ‘IN A WOKE MANNER’ AT SMITHSONIAN, TRUMP SAYS
«Under the guise of promoting American dignity, this administration seeks to share a limited history by ordering the removal of all signs, displays, and interpretive exhibits at National Parks that do not align with its preferred narrative, thereby telling half-truths,» Kelley wrote.
Trump signed the executive order to work to «restoring truth and sanity to American history» at the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks. Burgum later directed the removal of what he called «improper partisan ideology» from museums, monuments, landmarks and other public exhibits under federal control.
«Museums in our nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history,» the Trump order read.
TRUMP ADMIN-MAMDANI CLASH OVER STONEWALL MONUMENT REACHES FINAL DECISIONOther changes denounced by leftist ideologues included the removal of a sign at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona that included an image of a visitor holding a Pride flag, as well as the removal of films about labor history at Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts.
«What we were left, like virtually every Cabinet agency, was a complete mess from the Biden administration,» Burgum told Fox News’ Kayleigh McEnany on «Saturday in America,» vowing that he is «cleaning up the mess that’s been left with us.»
Shannon «SJ» Joslin, a fired park ranger, was part of a group who unfurled a trans pride flag at Yosemite last summer. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle)
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«They were doing everything from climate extremism to DEI, ESG, you name it, and they were doing it all opposed to what the American people voted for and what President Trump promised the American people we would do.»
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
national parks, federal judges, climate, us protests
Panamá fue designada oficialmente como sede regional de la conmemoración del Día Mundial del Donante de Sangre 2026, distinción que posiciona al país como referente en los esfuerzos para fortalecer los sistemas de sangre segura y avanzar hacia modelos sustentados en la donación voluntaria, altruista y recurrente.
Cada 14 de junio se celebra el Día Mundial del Donante de Sangre, como un homenaje al nacimiento de Karl Landsteiner, el científico austríaco que descubrió los grupos sanguíneos y recibió el Premio Nobel de Fisiología o Medicina en 1930 por sus aportes fundamentales a la transfusión segura de sangre
El Ministerio de Salud, la Caja de Seguro Social y la Organización Panamericana de la Salud/Organización Mundial de la Salud (OPS/OMS) formaron una alianza orientada a fortalecer la gobernanza, el financiamiento y la coordinación de los servicios de sangre, garantizando una respuesta más eficiente y equitativa a las necesidades de la población.
Julio Arosemena, viceministro encargado de Salud, insistió en la necesidad existente de que más personas se conviertan en donantes voluntarios y periódicos, destacando que la disponibilidad de sangre segura es fundamental para la atención de emergencias, cirugías, tratamientos oncológicos y otras intervenciones médicas.
Anualmente, el país pasa por periodos en que las autoridades sanitarias deben hacer llamados a la población para que acuda a donar sangre, que en muchas ocasiones tiende a escasear.
Erika Zhong, jefa del Departamento de Medicina Transfusional y Servicios de Sangre del Ministerio de Salud, recordó que una sola unidad de sangre puede salvar hasta tres vidas adultas o hasta ocho vidas pediátricas, mediante el aprovechamiento de sus diferentes componentes.
Una nota del Ministerio de Salud indica que la especialista señaló que uno de los principales desafíos del país es reducir la dependencia de los donantes de reposición y consolidar una cultura de donación voluntaria y recurrente que garantice reservas suficientes durante todo el año.
La jefa del Departamento de Medicina Transfusional y Servicios de Sangre del Ministerio de Salud indicó que «la sangre no se puede fabricar; su disponibilidad depende exclusivamente de la solidaridad de las personas que deciden donar voluntariamente».
Durante una actividad conmemorativa del día del donante de sangre, las autoridades de salubridad coincidieron en señalar la necesidad de fortalecer la articulación entre las instituciones públicas, el sector privado y los organismos internacionales para optimizar la captación, distribución y uso de los componentes sanguíneos.
Ana Rivière-Cinnamond, representante de la OPS/OMS en Panamá, destacó la importancia de promover la donación voluntaria y recurrente como una acción capaz de salvar la vida de quienes más lo necesitan, según el Ministerio de Salud.
Destacó el lema de la campaña 2026: «Una gota de humanidad. Donemos sangre. Salvemos vidas“, un mensaje que pone en el centro la solidaridad humana y el impacto que puede generar cada donación.
La directora nacional de los Servicios de Salud de la Caja de Seguro Social, Marlin Cedeño, destacó que cada donación representa una oportunidad de vida para pacientes que requieren transfusiones debido a cirugías, accidentes o enfermedades que demandan componentes sanguíneos.
Cada unidad de sangre donada puede beneficiar hasta a tres pacientes, ya que de ella se obtienen componentes esenciales como glóbulos rojos empacados, plaquetas y plasma fresco congelado, los cuales son distribuidos según las necesidades médicas de cada paciente en los hospitales de la red institucional.
Como parte de la conmemoración, se desarrollaron jornadas simultáneas de donación voluntaria en distintos puntos del país, con el propósito de fortalecer las reservas nacionales y fomentar una cultura solidaria que contribuya a salvar vidas.
Donación de sangre,Panamá,salud,solidaridad,campaña,voluntariado,hospital,enfermeros,sangre,comunidad
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