US Fraud Losses May Hit $1 Trillion As Digital Gangs Exploit Stolen American Identities, Ex-GAO Official Says, With FBI Cyber Division Chief Admitting: 'All Of Our Personally Identifiable Information… Is Available On The Dark Net' For Just $2

The U.S. government is hemorrhaging hundreds of billions of dollars every year to fraud, a chunk of which is leeched by sophisticated overseas digital crime rings using stolen identities.

What Happened: The Government Accountability Office estimates up to $521 billion in fraud losses annually, but former GAO official Linda Miller, speaking on 60 Minutes, shares her belief that the real figure is closer to $750 billion. "We're coming up close to the $1 trillion amount," she said.

The problem intensified during COVID-19 when digital systems went online. "It was like they threw money in the air and just let people run around and grab it," Miller said. Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division Chief Bryan Vorndran confirmed: "These are arguably digital gangs… their governments are not gonna interrupt their activity even if it's illegal."

A key 2024 FBI bust revealed $6 billion in fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims. In another case, the Chinese hacking group APT41 siphoned off $60 million by generating fake unemployment claims with stolen American identities.

Disaster aid, food stamps, tax refunds, and more federal programs are being targeted by these fraudsters. "It's whack-a-mole," Miller said. "They're seeing where better controls are being put in place and going where they haven't."

See Also: Trump’s Millionaire Tax More Of A Symbolic Gesture Than Step Towards Reducing Inequality, Warn Experts: ‘It’s Going To Give A Lot Of Republicans Heartburn’

Why It Matters: The U.S. government is a prime target due to its immense financial reach. "All of our personally identifiable information… is available on the dark net," said Vorndran. "And it can likely be purchased." For as little as two dollars, criminals can buy the digital identities of Americans and make use of AI tools like deepfakes to sidestep security checks.

Some perpetrators are reportedly on foreign payrolls. "They just wanna make money for themselves," Vorndran said of Chinese-linked APT41, which laundered stolen funds via shell companies. "Very little" of the $60 million they stole has been recovered.

DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency under President Donald Trump‘s administration, and led by Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, claims to have saved taxpayers $160 billion, but critics say it often confuses spending on certain programs with actual fraud. "You may not like spending on foreign fertilizer, but that's not fraud," Miller noted.

Despite efforts to tackle this pressing issue, experts say fraud continues mostly unchecked. Vorndran admitted: "In the U.S. government, we're all outnumbered."

Read Next:

• Mastercard CFO Says Shoppers Ready To Abandon The Web Browser In Favor Of AI Agents: ‘Paradigm Shift’ Unfolding

Image Via Shutterstock