Treasury stopped nearly $100M in taxpayer money from going to dead people after new gov’t measure implemented

NY Post ^ | 07/21/2026 | Victor Nava

[DFG]

The Treasury Department has blocked nearly $100 million in taxpayer money from going to dead people since implementing a government-wide payment verification process last year, The Post has learned.

The department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service discovered the money set to go to ghosts after a review of an eye-popping 885 million payments worth a total of nearly $2.7 trillion.

Since March 2025, the screening has identified more than 4,900 disbursements, worth approximately $99 million, associated with deceased payees, according to the Treasury.

The payments going to the dead – often indicative of fraud – were returned to the originating federal agencies for review before any funds were disbursed, the department said.

The $99 million figure is a tiny fraction (0.0036%) of the $2.7 trillion the department reviewed as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on waste, fraud and abuse — but more than triple what Treasury discovered going to the deceased in the days before President Trump took office last year.

“Treasury has delivered on a key promise of President Trump’s mandate to stop improper payments and fraud before money leaves the Treasury, and strengthen the integrity of the federal payment system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

“Together with Vice President Vance’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, this new safeguard addresses a longstanding vulnerability and helps ensure every dollar the federal government spends reaches its intended recipient,” Bessent added. “Treasury will continue efforts to modernize the federal payment system, strengthen safeguards against fraud and improper payments, and protect taxpayer dollars.”

The Treasury used the federal Do Not Pay program — which confirms a recipient’s identity, eligibility, and bank account information before issuing federal payments or awards — as well as other new verification tools to flag the $99 million that was going to the graveyard.

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TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bessent; bfs; ghostpayments; treasury

[BipolarBob]

Democrats and Chinese hit hardest.

[suasponte137]

Seriously...you’re probably dead on....i’d love to see the faces of the legions of parasites who had this gravy train spicket shut off for them.

[Salvavida]

Imprison those who were cashing the checks.

[albie]

That’s nice. Tip of the ice berg but nice

[Thank You Rush]

Can we expect protests by The Walking Dead?

[healy61]

Why people continue to be honest in reporting income is beyond me. My hard earned money is being sent to fraudsters. The soap box and ballot box don’t see to have solved problems.

[SunkenCiv]

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[escapefromboston]

Multiculturalism creates low trust societies

[Frank Drebin]

Does that mean they don’t need my taxes now with all these savings?

[blackdog]

Do they have ID?

[qwerty1234]

When my father died ~4 years ago, his small trade-union pension stopped automatically after about 6 weeks, and they also ‘took’, without notice the money out of my parents direct deposit account back to the day he died...his SS check on the other hand kept coming for almost 20 months, and only stopped when I contacted the SSA and worked out a plan to payback everything he was ‘paid’ since the day he died.

If a small privately run pension can figure out when someone dies, and immediately take action (without being informed of his death) then surely the federal government should be able to figure this out.

[FreedomPoster]

It’s a drop in the bucket, but I’ll take it.

Now go after the big fraud.

[Pontiac]

The Treasury Department has blocked nearly $100 million in taxpayer money from going to dead people since implementing a government-wide payment v

Channelling Democrat activist reaction to this news.

How are those poor dead people going to live without their government paychecks?! How are they going to get to the polls on voting day?!

[escapefromboston]

You’d think that Dems would be there to help catch the fraud because if you believe in the welfare state you’d want to make sure it doesn’t go belly up because of wasted money
But here we are.

[eyeamok]

Who was cashing the checks sent previously to these dead people? There has to be a paper trail, are they being prosecuted?

[Soul of the South]

Trump and the Republicans should be talking about the amount of fraud stopped everyday. It is a success story that will resonate with voters during the midterms. For some reason they aren’t trumpeting this success and the media isn’t doing it for them.

[PGalt]

HOORAY Vance & Bessent!

[PGalt]

LOL!

[Zathras]

Keep in mind this is 100M/year
This has probably been going on for 30 years.