NEW YORK — The latest government waste touted by billionaire Elon Musk's cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency is hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims it purportedly uncovered.
Elon Musk speaks Feb. 11 during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington.
One problem: Federal investigators already found what appears to be the same fraud, years earlier and on a far greater scale.
In a post last week on X, the social media site Musk owns, DOGE announced "an initial survey of unemployment insurance claims since 2020" found 24,500 people over the age of 115 claimed $59 million in benefits; 28,000 people between the ages of 1 and 5 collected $254 million; and 9,700 people with birthdates more than 15 years in the future garnered $69 million from the government.
The post drew a predictable party-line reaction of either skepticism or cheers, including from Musk himself, who said  he reread it several times before it sank in.
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“Another incredible discovery,â€Â , who repeated DOGE’s findings to President Donald Trump in a Cabinet meeting last week.
Lori Chavez-DeRemer attends a Feb. 19 hearing on her nomination to be secretary of labor on Capitol Hill in Washington.
But Chavez-DeRemer needn't look further than her own department's Office of the Inspector General to find such fraud already was reported by the type of federal workers DOGE demonized.
"They're 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,'" says Michele Evermore, who worked on unemployment issues at the U.S. Department of Labor during the administration of former Democratic President Joe Biden. "They're finding fraud that was marked as fraud and saying they found out it was fraud."
The Social Security Act of 1935Â Â but left it to individual states to set up systems to collect unemployment taxes, process applications and mete out support.
Though states have almost complete control over their own unemployment systems, special relief programs — most notably  — inject more direct federal involvement and a flood of new beneficiaries into the system.
In regular times, state unemployment systems perform "very well, not so well and terribly," according to Stephen Wandner, an economist at the National Academy of Social Insurance who authored the book "Unemployment Insurance Reform: Fixing a Broken System." With COVID-19 creating a flood of new claims that states couldn't handle, he says many more were "quite terrible."
The Trump administration is reportedly looking to revoke the Social Security numbers of hundreds of thousands of immigrants.
Trump signed the COVID unemployment relief into law on March 27, 2020. In a , the Department of Labor warned that the expanded benefits made unemployment programs "a target for fraud with significant numbers of imposter claims being filed with stolen or synthetic identities."
That same memo offered an option for states trying to protect a person whose identity was stolen to fraudulently collect unemployment benefits. To preserve a record of the fraud but keep innocent people from being linked to it, states could create a "pseudo claim," the memo advised.
Those "pseudo claims" led to records of toddlers and centenarians getting checks. The Labor Department's inspector general from people over the age of 100 between March 2020 and April 2022, but another departmental memo explained the to protect people whose identities were used.
"Many of the claims identified … were not payments to individuals over 100 years of age, but rather 'pseudo records' of previously identified fraudulent claims," the 2023 memo says.
Demonstrators protest March 14 outside of the Edward A. Garmatz United States District Courthouse in Baltimore before a hearing regarding the Department of Government Efficiency's access to Social Security data.
A Labor Department spokeswoman did not respond to questions about Musk's findings and DOGE gave no details on how it came to find the supposed fraud or whether it duplicates what was already found.
Though DOGE ostensibly looked at longer timeframe than federal investigators previously had, it tallied just $382 million in fake unemployment claims, a tiny fraction of what investigators were already aware.
In 2022, the Labor Department said . The Government Accountability Office later said it was far worse, .
"I don't think it's news to anyone," says Amy Traub, an expert on unemployment at the National Employment Law Project. "It's been widely reported. There've been multiple congressional hearings."
If DOGE's newest allegations echo its prior findings of about . Those were false claims.
Jessica Reidl, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank The Manhattan Institute, is a fiscal conservative who champions rooting out federal waste and wrote 600 articles on the subject. She has trouble accepting findings from DOGE, which she says acted ineffectively and possibly illegally.
Traub said the burst of pandemic-era unemployment fraud led states to implement new security measures. She questioned why Musk's team was trumpeting old fraud as if it's new.
The Social Security data breach compromised 'billions' of accounts. Here's how to protect yourself.
The Social Security data breach compromised 'billions' of accounts. Here's one easy, free way to protect yourself.
In early 2024, background checking service National Public Data was hit by a massive cyberattack that potentially compromised the sensitive, personal information of millions, or possibly even billions, of people around the world, including U.S. residents.
A year later, new security threats have gained traction. While artificial intelligence has transformed the ability to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to cyberattacks, the malicious use of AI has also exploited new vulnerabilities. As AI systems evolve, so does the sophistication and scope of cyberattacks. In the hands of bad actors, AI capabilities have increased the scale and efficiency of attacks, including identity theft, fraud, and data privacy violations, according to a report on AI and cybersecurity.  Â
In the financial sector, for instance, deploying a form of algorithmic manipulation known as data poisoning to increasingly sophisticated machine learning models could significantly impact AI. That, in turn, can lead to biased or harmful results, undermining fraud detection or credit scoring models.
analyzed resources from the and the three credit bureaus to compile tips on how to secure your identity in the aftermath of last year's unprecedented data breach and prepare for potential threats in the future.
The group taking credit for the breach targeting NPD calls itself USDoD, a moniker that mirrors the name of the federal government agency responsible for the country's security. The group reportedly sold the vast trove of user data on the dark web for $3.5 million.
In a , which does business as National Public Data, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability said the attack "likely represents one of the largest cyberattacks ever in terms of impacted individuals." The letter was sent to request a hearing and alert the owner to the committee's investigation of the security event, alleging that the company failed to notify consumers of the breach in a timely and detailed manner.
The breach is concerning not only because of its possible scope but also because of the information compromised, which includes Social Security numbers.
A Social Security number can be used to steal someone else's identity. This allows criminals to fraudulently open new lines of credit, apply for loans, and even receive government benefits, which happened during the COVID-19 pandemic when states were providing additional unemployment pay.
If you don't already pay for an identity theft monitoring service, you can still take advantage of free tools offered by the main credit bureaus to prevent criminals from defrauding you.
The process is called freezing your credit. While it is the most secure option to prevent fraud, industry surveys estimate that only a small percentage of Americans use the service. Depending on the scope and circumstances, consumers could benefit from freezing their credit after a major data breach. Read on to learn more about how to protect your information and set up a credit freeze.
Have I been impacted by the NPD data breach or any others?
The simple fact that a person hasn't experienced the repercussions of identity theft, like credit card fraud, isn't always a sign that their personal data wasn't compromised. Personal info can sit in public spaces for some time before it's purchased or found and used by someone with criminal intent.
Every U.S. state and multiple territories have laws that require that businesses notify stakeholders when their data has been accessed by an unauthorized actor. However, not every company is forthright about breaches. NPD is now facing a class action lawsuit in which at least one victim claims they didn't know about the breach until their own identity theft service notified them.
Many identity theft services will notify you when your personal info is found in public or on marketplaces used by criminals. For the NPD breach, specifically, cybersecurity firm Pentester has released a free web tool that by only providing your name, state, and birth year.
After you've confirmed any exposure, a credit freeze can help protect you from future fraud attempts.
What is a credit freeze?
A credit freeze is a free service that restricts access to your credit report through the major credit bureaus. You can temporarily pause the freeze when needed, such as when applying for a loan or credit card. A credit lock can similarly block access to your credit information, but it usually comes with a monthly fee and offers additional features, such as immediate deactivation and reactivation of the lock.
When you turn on a credit freeze, all credit report requests will be denied, even if it's a legitimate lender processing your application for a loan or credit card. This simultaneously secures your information but also adds an extra step for you to remember when applying for new credit. (More on that later.)
The three credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion—all provide the service for free. Create an account on each bureau's website and turn on fraud alerts. Be wary of offers for paid tiers of services from each of these companies—you may want to purchase their additional services or a credit lock, but you should not need to pay to freeze a credit file.
Comb through accounts tied to your personal information within each bureau's credit report, and be on the lookout for credit cards and other items you didn't personally apply for. The presence of an unrecognizable account could be evidence of identity theft.
Then, request that each bureau place a freeze on the credit file. This can also be done by phone at:
- Experian: 1-888-397-3742
- TransUnion: 1-888-909-8872
- Equifax: 1-800-685-1111
NPD and the FTC also encourage consumers to report identity theft when they're alerted to it at or call 1-877-438-4338.
What if I want to access my credit?
The freeze stays in place until the owner of the credit file requests to lift it temporarily or permanently.
A freeze might be lifted for a few days if the person anticipates applying for a mortgage or credit card within a specific set time. The process provides peace of mind that the window for fraud is limited should they forget to request a freeze again.
Though freezing your credit is an easy and effective step to prevent fraud, it only protects against the creation of new, fraudulent accounts. Any existing credit account can still be compromised, so keep an eye out for your monthly statements and any suspicious charges.
Experts also recommend securing all other types of online accounts in today's age of near-constant cyber threats. Aside from bank accounts, platforms like social media and even streaming service accounts can provide criminals with access to your credit card information and ways to impersonate you. Most websites offer a security service called multifactor authentication that works similarly to a credit freeze, pinging the user via a secure channel like a personal phone number to confirm the login activity is coming from them and not an impersonator.
Story editing by Carren Jao. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Tim Bruns. Photo selection by Ania Antecka.Â
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