Elon Musk’s recent revelation from his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has left the billionaire stunned.
The findings expose fraudulent unemployment claims filed by non-existent or impossible individuals. They are so outrageous that Musk said he had to read the data multiple times before it ‘sank in
Elon Musk says he found ‘fake peole’ collecting millions in unemployment benefits.
According to a breakdown posted by the official DOGE account, the agency identified millions of dollars in unemployment claims filed using clearly impossible birth data.
While.Musk still actively promoting the agency’s efforts to cut waste from the U.S. federal budget.
The investigation into Unemployment Insurance claims since 2020 revealed the following:
According to DOGE’s official X account:
$59 million went to 24,500 people listed as over 115 years old
$69 million went to 9,700 people allegedly born 15+ years in the future
$254 million went to 28,000 individuals aged between 1 and 5
One particularly bizarre case included a person with a birthday in 2154 who reportedly received $41,000 in benefits.
Musk calls the finding ‘so crazy’ that he had to read them multipe times
Quoting DOGE’s findings on X, Musk posted:
“Your tax dollars were going to pay fraudulent unemployment claims for fake people born in the future! This is so crazy that I had to read it several times before it sank in.”
He added, “The oldest living American is 114 years old, so it is safe to say that anyone 115 or older is collecting ‘unemployment’ due to being dead.”
Additionally, Musk alsp went on to highlight the lack of basic verification systems in place:
“There was no sanity check for impossibly young or impossibly old people for unemployment insurance.”
Despite the Sensational Nature of the Fraud, the Impact on the Budget Is Relatively Small
While $382 million in fraudulent claims is no small number, it represents just 1.8% of the total Unemployment Insurance budget from 2020–2025, which totaled over $21.2 billion, especially bloated in early pandemic years.
As one commenter on Musk’s post pointed out: “The deficit is $2 trillion & you are worried about a potential $350 million in erroneous outlays? SIR, these don’t even rise to the level of rounding errors.”
Social media reaction
On social media, many viewers express their shock about Musk’s post.
While DOGE frames these findings as evidence of large-scale fraud, some experts and commenters disagree.
They believe the explanation may be more mundane—data entry errors rather than criminal intent.
One person said: Why do I get the feeling all of this will turn out to be just error, or not understanding the coding?”
A second wrote: How much is simply typos vs. fraud?
While a third commented: He should go to Congress and tell them. Majority of Americans are tired of him and his apprentice
Dodge needs to have some way for the USA citizens to recheck them . Dodgey things are all that we see and never proof. Another user added.
Keep the course rats are abandoning the shi. Someone said.
Musk, however, seemed less interested in the cause than the result.
When a commenter pointed out that typos are still resulting in payouts, Musk simply replied “Exactly