RALEIGH — It has long been a dodge to respond to chronic fiscal gaps with a promise to tackle “waste, fraud, and abuse.” A recent example came from the Artful Dodger himself, Donald Trump, who said on April 3 that a new anti-fraud initiative led by Vice President J.D. Vance had the potential to “balance our American budget.”
No, it doesn’t. Washington’s deficits — running nearly $2 trillion a year, about a quarter of federal spending — are too large to close by eliminating fraudulent claims, improper payments to households or businesses, and malfeasance by government contractors. Moreover, it is simply impossible to eliminate fraud entirely. It exists at every level of government, and indeed across both the public and private sectors.
Nevertheless, the Trump administration’s campaign against fraud is helpful and praiseworthy, as are comparable efforts here…
Cyber fraud uses technology as the primary weapon. It is highly scalable and can be conducted from anywhere in the world.
- Phishing/Smishing/Vishing: Using deceptive emails (phishing), text messages (smishing), or phone calls (vishing) to trick victims into clicking malicious links or revealing sensitive data.
- Business Email Compromise (BEC): A high-value scam where a criminal impersonates a CEO or high-level executive via a “spoofed” email address to trick a staff member into making an urgent, unauthorized wire transfer.