The Justice Department’s new fraud whistleblower program has already brought in thousands of tips just days after launching, according to Colin McDonald, the administration’s Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division.
“In the last few days, we’ve received thousands of tips through this new tip line. This is a novel approach, a novel approach to try new things to combat the fraudsters,” McDonald said Saturday on “My View with Lara Trump.”
McDonald, who has taken on the role of the administration’s “fraud czar,” argued the federal government had been outmatched for years because fraudsters keep changing their methods while Washington “just did the same old thing.” The new program is meant to flip that dynamic.
President Donald Trump announced the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program on Tuesday. Under the program, qualifying tipsters can receive a 1% commission, subject to applicable laws and rules. What sets it apart from past whistleblower efforts, McDonald said, is timing.
“We are going to do new things, and this whistleblower program is an example of that, where folks can get upfront payment when there is an arrest and not have to wait to the very end of a case, which is what every other whistleblower program in history has done,” McDonald said.
That is a real break from precedent. Every prior federal whistleblower system has forced tipsters to wait out a full case before seeing a dime. This one pays out once there’s an arrest or a significant enforcement action tied to the tip — not simply for filing an allegation. A tip has to actually produce results.
The program lands as the administration leans harder into fraud enforcement across federal benefit programs. A recent 50-day enforcement push targeting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program turned up roughly $40 million in alleged SNAP fraud involving more than 40 suspects.
The push for better whistleblower tools follows scrutiny from Congress tied to the Minnesota Medicaid fraud scandal, which exposed gaps in how federal programs catch and deter fraud before taxpayer money is gone for good. House Republicans have moved separate legislation aimed at closing those gaps.
McDonald conceded that clawing back stolen taxpayer money after it’s already been spent is tough. To deal with that, he said the Justice Department is building an asset recovery team of specialists dedicated to tracking down fraud proceeds and pursuing forfeiture of property bought with stolen funds.
“We are bringing new tools to the fight against fraud so that the fraudsters are not the only ones learning,” McDonald said. “We are learning too, and we’re equipped with the full toolbox to confront them.”
