Trump's war on fraud expands as Treasury launches new site with whistleblower incentives
FIRST ON FOX: Americans could soon cash in on exposing fraud as President Donald Trump's Treasury Department prepares to launch a program paying whistleblowers, Fox News Digital has learned.
The Treasury Department has created an online tip line that incentivize Americans to bring allegations of fraud directly to the administration in an effort to increase transparency and crack down on abuse of taxpayer dollars. The website encourages people to "blow the whistle on fraud, money laundering and sanctions/tax violations."
And those who report explicit details of legitimate fraudulent transactions could see a pay day for their information.
"Whistleblowers play a critical role in protecting the integrity of our financial system," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News Digital.
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"Today, Treasury launched a new webpage that brings our whistleblower programs together in one place, making it easier to find information and navigate the reporting process," he continued.
Awards for whistleblowers could range between 10% and 30% of the total amount in penalties recovered from successful enforcement operations carried out by the Departments of Treasury and Justice.
The rollout marks the latest step in the Trump administration's broader campaign to root out fraud across federal programs after officials argued billions in taxpayer dollars have been lost to waste, abuse and organized criminal schemes.
The program works alongside the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud — a federal initiative led by Vice President JD Vance that President Donald Trump established by executive order earlier this year. It also mirrors a similar program that was used to root out illicit money movements in Minnesota in the midst of the Feeding Our Futures fraud scandal.
The new website consolidates Treasury's existing whistleblower programs into a single public portal, allowing for fraud report submissions to go through one website that routes tips to the department's various enforcement bureaus.
It also serves as a hub for Treasury's broader anti-fraud campaign, with initiatives ranging from Internal Revenue Service (IRS) fraud investigations and sanctions enforcement to financial institution alerts, whistleblower protections and the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, led by Vance.
"Fighting fraud is a core national security and taxpayer protection mission for Treasury," a Treasury spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "Secretary Bessent has directed the Department to modernize its tools, strengthen partnerships with financial institutions and law enforcement, and aggressively pursue those who steal from the American people. Treasury is committed to preventing fraud before it occurs, disrupting criminal networks that exploit government programs, and holding bad actors accountable."
Both the new whistleblower program and anti-fraud task force were created in response to the massive fraud scandal in Minnesota that triggered investigations that later exposed taxpayer dollar abuse statewide.
The exposed fraud included allegations that the state’s Somali community was exploiting social services to send millions of dollars to those unqualified to receive financial assistance, including al Qaeda-linked terror groups.
"President Trump has been clear that Americans have a right to know that their tax dollars are not being diverted to fund acts of global terror or to fund luxury cars for fraudsters," a statement from Bessent featured on the new website reads. "At Treasury, we follow the money."
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"We did it with the mafia, we have done it with all the cartels, and we’re doing it with the Somali fraudsters," he went on in the public statement. "We are going to offer whistleblower payments to anyone who wants to tell us the who, what, when, where and how this fraud and money laundering occurred."
The portal provides direct reporting links to Treasury bureaus including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the IRS and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, allowing tips to be routed to the agency best equipped to investigate them.
Treasury has not yet specified how whistleblower payments will be calculated or which cases would qualify for financial rewards.