Tech mogul Elon Musk revealed the staggering extent of fraudulent unemployment claims uncovered by his agency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), telling the Daily Mail last week he had to read the documents multiple times before the numbers “sank in.”
In a bombshell finding, Musk stated that DOGE discovered millions of dollars in unemployment benefits had been paid to “fake people,” including individuals who haven’t even been born yet, some with birthdates set in the next century.
On Wednesday, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) released findings from an initial review of unemployment insurance claims dating back to 2020—results that left Elon Musk stunned. The agency discovered that 9,700 individuals with birth dates set more than 15 years in the future had fraudulently claimed a total of $69 million in benefits.
In one particularly bizarre case, DOGE reported on X that a person listed with a birth year of 2154 had received $41,000 in unemployment payments, the Economic Timesreported.
“Your tax dollars were going to pay fraudulent unemployment claims for fake people born in the future,” Musk said. “This is so crazy that I had to read it several times before it sank in.”
Musk fired back at his critics earlier this month by sharing a resurfaced clip of then-President Barack Obama announcing a nearly identical initiative over a decade ago.
Taking to his X platform, Musk reposted a 2011 video of Obama launching the “Campaign to Cut Waste,” an effort to reduce unnecessary government spending. Musk captioned it, noting the similarities: “Sounds exactly like DOGE.”
In the video, Obama even joked that he was putting then–Vice President Joe Biden in charge of the campaign, saying, “Nobody messes with Joe.”
Obama highlighted several examples of what he called “pointless waste and stupid spending that doesn’t benefit anybody” uncovered early in the campaign—including the continued funding of a website for a folk music group called the “Fiddlin’ Foresters.”
Below is a transcript of the exchange:
Obama: “Everyone knows that getting rid of the deficit will require some tough decisions, and that includes cutting back on billions of dollars in programs that a lot of people care about. But what should be easy is getting rid of the pointless waste and stupid spending that doesn’t benefit anybody, waste we should be getting rid of even if we didn’t have a deficit.
Sure, some of these cuts aren’t that big, but no amount of waste is acceptable. Not when it’s your money, not at a time when so many Americans are already cutting back. Just as families are living within their means, government should too. Did you know the federal government pays for a website devoted to a folk music ensemble made up of forest rangers? They’re called the Fiddlin’ Foresters. I’ll put their music on my iPod, but I’m not paying for their website.
And there are hundreds of similar sites that we should consolidate or just get rid of. By the way, you’re not only paying for websites no one needs. You’re paying for thousands of buildings all across the country no one uses.
Biden: “There’s a new standard by which the government is going to function from this point on. The American people are entitled to transparency. Look, a lot of this depends on new sophisticated methods, but it also — it also, we know, depends on relentless focus on making this a priority; focus that can’t be delegated. We’re holding ourselves accountable and we’re deeply committed and focused on making government function better.
We’re not just eliminating fraud and waste. We hope to be instilling an entire new culture that not only our administration, but every succeeding administration will, in fact, pursue. We’re going to give you the government you expect and deserve.”
