President Trump and Vice President JD Vance will unveil a $25 million whistleblower program paying Americans cash for tips that convict fraudsters, putting real money behind a zero-tolerance push to stop theft of taxpayer dollars.
Trump plans to stand in the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon with Vance and the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud to launch the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, known as WHIP. The Justice Department will run it. Eligible tipsters can collect up to $30,000 when their information leads to a successful fraud conviction or a significant federal enforcement action.
Tips go through fraud.gov. Simply filing an allegation will not pay. The tip has to deliver results.
Fox News reported that the White House is pairing the new cash incentive with public credit for independent reporting that already forced federal action in Minnesota.
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis framed the effort in blunt terms.
"Every day, President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud is zeroing in on the rampant abuse of taxpayer dollars and giving Americans the accountability they deserve. This administration has zero tolerance for individuals who steal from Americans."
WHIP adds a public reward track to the broader campaign Trump ordered earlier this year. In March he established the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and named Vance its chairman. The executive order told the group to coordinate across federal agencies, uncover fraud, tighten eligibility checks, and stop improper payments.
The new program puts dollar figures on that mission. Everyday Americans and independent journalists who flag suspected theft of taxpayer money now have a path to payment if their tip produces a conviction or major enforcement move. The Justice Department holds the purse and the standards.
Trump also plans to hand independent journalist Nick Shirley a $10,000 check for work that exposed suspected fraud at Minnesota daycare centers. The recognition sits alongside the larger WHIP rollout and signals how the White House wants more eyes on the ground.
Shirley drew national attention in December 2025 after he published a video questioning whether several Somali-run Minnesota daycare centers were operating as legitimate businesses. The footage showed apparently empty facilities. People on camera said they had not seen children at the locations.
The White House credited that reporting with helping spur a surge of FBI and Department of Homeland Security resources into Minnesota. Investigations, arrests, and new charges followed.
One concrete result already on the books: Fahima Egeh Mahamud, former CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning Center, pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Prosecutors said she stole more than $4.6 million through false child care assistance claims and another $850,000 through a federal child nutrition program tied to the Feeding Our Future scandal.
Shirley had pointed to that guilty plea as proof his work mattered. He previously told Fox News Digital:
"Well, numbers don't lie, and convictions don't lie either."
Federal pressure did not stop with daycares. On December 18, 2025, agents executed a search warrant at Ultimate Home Health Services in Bloomington, Minnesota, over potential Medicaid fraud. Quality Learning Center has also sat at the center of the alleged childcare fraud scandal in the state.
The same crackdown has reached other corners of federal benefits. Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald has pointed to more than $1 billion recovered from trade fraud. Separate efforts tied to Dr. Oz have focused on millions in Medicaid funding allegedly stolen through fraudulent adult daycare centers in New York City.
Those figures sit in the same White House narrative as the Minnesota cases: taxpayer money walking out the door through false claims, weak eligibility checks, and programs that invited abuse. The task force’s job is to close the gaps. WHIP’s job is to turn ordinary citizens and scrappy reporters into paid sensors who feed the system fresh leads.
Submitting a tip remains free and open through fraud.gov. The reward gate stays high on purpose. No conviction or significant enforcement action means no check. That design keeps the program aimed at results rather than noise.
Trump’s team is treating stolen benefits as a law-and-order problem with a price tag Americans can understand. When empty daycares, false child-care claims, and Medicaid schemes drain public funds, the people who notice first are often neighbors, parents, and independent journalists, not distant auditors. Paying them when the case lands is one way to make sure the next tip arrives faster.
Fraudsters who live off taxpayer dollars now face a simple new reality: the public has a financial reason to turn them in, and this White House intends to collect.
