DOGE Reports Finding Hundreds of Millions in Fake Unemployment Claims

DOGE Identifies Unusual Unemployment Claims From Extremely Young and Old Applicants

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), established by President Donald Trump and led by Elon Musk, announced Wednesday that it has uncovered tens of thousands of unemployment claims approved after 2020 that were filed by individuals with highly improbable ages—some allegedly over 115 years old, while others were as young as one to five years old. The White House / Wikimedia

DOGE Audit Finds Over $300 Million in Claims Linked to Ages 1–5 and 115+

According to a post shared by DOGE on X (formerly Twitter), its initial audit found claims submitted under identities of individuals who were either impossibly old or absurdly young. Specifically, the agency said that “24.5k people over 115 years old claimed $59M in benefits,” and “28k people between 1 and 5 years old claimed $254 million in benefits.” myCountrAI on X, via AI image generation / Wikimedia

DOGE Flags Claims Filed by Individuals With Future Birth Dates

Additionally, DOGE noted that “9.7k people with birth dates over 15 years in the future claimed $69M in benefits,” including “one case [where] someone with a birthday in 2154 claimed $41k.” Department of Government Efficiency (USA) / Wikimedia

Labor Department Responds to DOGE’s Findings, Plans to Recover Funds

The Labor Department confirmed the findings, stating that it is working to recover the misallocated funds. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told FOX Business, “This is another incredible discovery by the DOGE team, finding nearly $400 million in fraudulent unemployment payments… We will catch these thieves and keep working to root out egregious fraud – accountability is here.” US Department of Labor / Wikimedia

DOGE Collaborates With SSA to Review Age Discrepancies in Records

DOGE has made similar efforts with the Social Security Administration (SSA), recently flagging 9.9 million numberholders listed as age 120 or older as deceased, with roughly 2 million more still under review. However, not all of these individuals were receiving benefits, according to acting Social Security Commissioner Lee Dudek, who clarified, “These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits.” U.S. Government / Wikimedia

SSA Acknowledges Errors in Declaring Some Living Individuals Deceased

Nonetheless, the SSA and DOGE have faced backlash for mistakenly marking living recipients as deceased, which has led to sudden terminations of benefit payments and hardship for those affected. The SSA acknowledged these errors in a statement, writing that “less than one-third of 1 percent are erroneously reported deaths,” but conceded that the process of reversing those errors can be “too long and challenging.” U.S. Government / Wikimedia