Things would seem to be tightening up on those who would defraud the American taxpayers. It seems like each passing day brings us another fraud bust; now, a new press release from the Treasury Department indicates that they may be about to hit the TURBO button. According to a press release issued Thursday, the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is now looking into a possible $17.5 billion in fraud. Yes, that's a billion, with a "B."
The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced that its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has identified approximately $17.5 billion in suspicious financial activity potentially linked to health care fraud, underscoring the Trump Administration’s commitment to eliminating fraud, protecting taxpayers, and safeguarding the integrity of federal health care programs.
“By identifying and reporting this suspicious activity, financial institutions have given law enforcement critical insight into the illicit actors who deliberately exploit U.S. health care benefits programs,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Treasury will continue working alongside our law enforcement partners to disrupt fraud wherever it occurs, protect Americans, and safeguard the integrity of taxpayer-funded programs.”
Mind you, this is just the first step. They have identified suspicious activity, and so far, no individual acts or possible perpetrators have been identified. But this tells them where to start looking.
A new FinCEN Financial Trend Analysis finds that, over a one-year period, financial institutions filed more than 5,700 Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) reports flagging activity potentially connected to health care fraud. The findings provide law enforcement with critical financial intelligence to identify, investigate, and disrupt illicit schemes that exploit taxpayer-funded health care benefits.
It's getting to the point where it wouldn't be surprising to learn that the amount of fraud perpetrated on American taxpayers is over a trillion dollars. And, yes, that's a key point; these frauds are not perpetrated on the United States government; the government has no money but what it takes from us in taxes and fees. These people are stealing from the taxpaying citizens of the United States, one way or another, and it's good to see an administration taking this fraud seriously.
One more interesting tidbit from the press release: the Treasury Department is finding that the great majority of suspected and identified fraudsters are right here in the United States, meaning no messy extradition proceedings.
Filers identified subjects located in every U.S. state, as well as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Of the approximately 13,000 subject addresses in the dataset, approximately 1.5 percent had a foreign address.
That makes it this much easier to haul the goblins in.
Here's the question that we American taxpayers need to have answered: Just how in the ever-lovin' world did things get this bad? How did the amount of known and suspected fraud get into the billions? This had to have been years in the making. Frauds on this scale don't just spring up overnight. Medicare and Medicaid are nothing new; I had a piece of a durable medical equipment leasing business for a few years back in the early 2000s, and fraudulent reporting was all too common, but never on this scale; a few hundred here, and a few hundred there. But fraud on the scale we are seeing, that's something new.
Fortunately, we now have some leadership at Treasury and in the White House who are determined to root the fraudsters out.
You can view the FinCEN trend analysis report here.