Uncle Sam Wants You To Snitch. You’ll Even Get Paid Big For It.

Banks and everyday Americans can cash in if they report fraud, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained on Monday.

The Treasury Department issued an advisory to banks pushing them to monitor accounts more closely for suspicious activity, saying, “They’re the frontline in identifying financial fraud when nonprofits, whether its daycare centers, hospice care, start wiring big round numbers out, that’s a problem. There are large multi-national criminal organizations that are doing healthcare fraud, so we are all hands on deck.”

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) works with financial institutions to detect suspicious activity under a rule requiring the reporting of transactions of $2,000 or more that appear to follow suspicious patterns. Bessent said “suspicious activity reports” are up 20% this year. 

Whistleblowers, whether they are institutions or individuals, whose tips lead to enforcement actions could receive awards ranging from 10 to 30 percent of the fines collected as a result of their information. Bessent said the program is looking for tips specifically related to “government programs where there is a lack of common sense.” He then described Minnesota’s childcare programs that did not actually take care of children as an example of such a program that lacked “common sense.”

In January, the Treasury Department launched a modernized website to encourage Americans to report government fraud. “It’s kind of like at TSA where they say if you see something, say something,” Bessent said. “And if you say something and it turns out you have helped us make a big recovery, we want to pay for that.” 

The website encourages users to submit as much detail as they can, including the names and contact information of all individuals and entities involved in the allegations, a description of any evidence supporting the allegations, and — if applicable — the amount of money that may have been defrauded. However, only a first name, last name, phone number, subject area, and description of the issue are required to submit the tip. 

The scale of the problem the initiative aims to address is significant. The Government Accountability Office estimates that the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion each year to fraud. Tackling those losses has become a major policy priority. The initiative aligns with a core campaign promise from President Trump, who has pledged to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse across federal programs. The Trump administration argues that, absent fraud, the $2 trillion annual deficit could be balanced by keeping funds within the system and ensuring they are used for the services the misdirected funds were originally intended to support.

In addition to encouraging public participation, the administration has also taken steps within the federal government itself. Alongside the civilian reporting program, President Trump announced the creation of a dedicated task force focused on identifying and eliminating fraud across agencies. Vice President JD Vance heads up the new task force, which kicked off its first meeting on Friday. The ongoing crisis in Minnesota, which was made a national topic by YouTuber Nick Shirley, was a central focus of the meeting.