Treasury announces cash rewards for whistleblowers in Somali fraud investigations

True

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Treasury has announced that it will offer cash rewards to whistleblowers related to the fraud investigations.

Source summary
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a set of federal actions aimed at dismantling a large fraud scheme tied to Somali-organized activity in Minnesota. The Treasury has issued notices of investigation to money services businesses, implemented a Geographic Targeting Order to increase reporting on certain international transactions, released alerts about fraud in child nutrition programs, provided law enforcement financial-data training, and said the IRS has begun audits of banks suspected of laundering proceeds. Bessent also announced a task force to probe misuse of pandemic-era tax incentives and 501(c)(3) status, offered whistleblower incentives, and criticized Minnesota state leadership while saying the work could be a model for national rollout.
Latest fact check

The official U.S. Department of the Treasury readout of Secretary Scott Bessent’s Minneapolis visit explicitly quotes him saying, in the context of combating the Somali fraud scheme and related government benefits fraud in Minnesota: “One [other] thing that we are going to announce is incentives for whistleblowers. If these fraudsters want to turn on each other, we welcome that. We will be offering cash rewards to whistleblowers.” This is presented as part of Treasury’s package of initiatives to dismantle the fraud scheme and protect taxpayers. Because Treasury’s own release describes Secretary Bessent announcing that Treasury will offer cash rewards to whistleblowers in connection with this fraud crackdown, the statement is accurate as written. Therefore, the verdict is True because the claim directly reflects the Treasury Secretary’s officially published remarks and their stated context in the anti-fraud effort.

Timeline

  1. Update · Jan 14, 2026, 08:55 AMTrue
    The official U.S. Department of the Treasury readout of Secretary Scott Bessent’s Minneapolis visit explicitly quotes him saying, in the context of combating the Somali fraud scheme and related government benefits fraud in Minnesota: “One [other] thing that we are going to announce is incentives for whistleblowers. If these fraudsters want to turn on each other, we welcome that. We will be offering cash rewards to whistleblowers.” This is presented as part of Treasury’s package of initiatives to dismantle the fraud scheme and protect taxpayers. Because Treasury’s own release describes Secretary Bessent announcing that Treasury will offer cash rewards to whistleblowers in connection with this fraud crackdown, the statement is accurate as written. Therefore, the verdict is True because the claim directly reflects the Treasury Secretary’s officially published remarks and their stated context in the anti-fraud effort.
  2. Original article · Jan 13, 2026

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