Treasury expands anti-fraud system and blocks $175 million in payments to deceased individuals

The Department of the Treasury stopped $175 million in federal payments intended for deceased individuals during fiscal year 2026. The agency, led by Secretary Scott Bessent, reported this in a statement shared with Fox News Digital. In total, about 13,500 payments would otherwise have been made in error.

Specifically, the Treasury reviewed more than 1.1 billion payments totaling $3.7 trillion through September 30. According to the agency, a year ago only 4% of federal programs had access to "Do Not Pay," a tool for verifying payments. Today, that access has reached more than 99%.

"Treasury continues to transform how the federal government protects taxpayer dollars by using better data, stronger controls, and advanced technology to stop fraud and improper payments before money goes out the door," Bessent told Fox News Digital.

"In the past year alone, Treasury built and deployed new safeguards that verified more than $3.7 trillion in federal payments and increased Do Not Pay access from 4 percent of programs to 99 percent, ensuring agencies have access to the data they need. We are moving beyond 'pay and chase' and making prevention the federal government's first line of defense," the Treasury Secretary added.

What is "Do Not Pay?"

This Treasury tool lets agencies cross-check payments against various databases before sending money. Specifically, it helps detect, among other things, whether a recipient has passed away.

During fiscal year 2026, the program's scope expanded significantly. The Treasury cross-referenced more than 2.3 billion records with the program's data sources, nearly four times the 641 million from the previous year.

To detect payments to deceased individuals, "Do Not Pay" relies on the Social Security Administration's Death Master File. This data exchange with the Treasury began as a temporary three-year program in December 2023, spearheaded by Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy. On February 10, 2026, President Donald Trump signed the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, which Kennedy drafted, and made this data access permanent.

The Treasury clarified that expanding "Do Not Pay" to more than 99% of federal programs complies with an executive order Trump signed in March 2025 that strengthens protections against "fraud, waste, and abuse" in federal payments.

"Unless you were playing Frisbee in the quad during Econ 101, you know the federal government shouldn't send taxpayer money to dead people. Treasury just stopped $175 million from going to dead people. I fought for years to make this common-sense fix permanent. Now it's law—and it's working," Kennedy celebrated on his X account.