Elon Musk’s DOGE discovers millions in taxpayer dollars wasted on unemployment claims for ‘fake people’

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said Thursday that millions of dollars in unemployment claims have gone to “fake people” who aren’t even born yet — some not even in this century.

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

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.
DOGE claimed that the department found hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims.
In one absurd case, a person whose birthday was listed in the year 2154 claimed $41,000, according to an X post by the department.

Another 24,500 people over the near-impossible age of 115 claimed $59 million in benefits; and some 28,000 people between the ages of 1 and 5 years old claimed $254 million in benefits, DOGE discovered.

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

“This is so crazy that I had to read it several times before it sank in,” he added.

Although fraud impacting COVID-19 relief funds — including enhanced unemployment benefits — has in many cases been proven, it’s unclear whether some of the birth year issues could be explained by data-entry errors — particularly in states that use antiquated systems.

“Of course toddlers and someone with a birthdate 129 years in the future are unemployed, but they definitely don’t qualify for unemployment benefits,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) told The Post.

“As the top watchDOGE [sic] in the Senate, I am working with DOGE to restore basic competence in the federal government and eliminate glaring and costly examples of fraud.”

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) said: “It’s been estimated that between $135 and $400 billion in unemployment benefits has been stolen by fraudsters since COVID. That’s why the House recently passed legislation I co-sponsored to claw back funds lost to fraud and extend the statute of limitations so these criminals can be prosecuted. DOGE must continue its work to uncover the waste, fraud and abuse draining taxpayers and driving up our debt.”

The Labor Department did not immediately respond to a request for more detailed information about the alleged malfeasance.

Chavez-DeRemer’s predecessor, President Biden’s acting labor secretary Julie Su, was dogged by allegations of gross mismanagement of California’s unemployment system during the pandemic, which sent an estimated $30-40 billion in payments to fraudsters.
“Your tax dollars were going to pay fraudulent unemployment claims for fake people born in the future!” Musk claimed in a post on X.AP
Musk, the world’s richest man, has been tasked by Trump with heading the newly created DOGE’s efforts to cut wasteful spending and uncover fraud in the federal government.

Musk, the world’s richest man, has been tasked by President Trump with heading the newly created DOGE’s efforts to cut wasteful spending and uncover fraud in the federal government.

“The oldest living American is 114 years old, so it is safe to say that anyone 115 or older is collecting ‘unemployment’ due to being dead,” he said in another post about DOGE’s troubling findings.

“There was no sanity check for impossibly young or impossibly old people for unemployment insurance.”