President Trump and Vice President JD Vance rolled out a $25 million program that pays ordinary Americans up to $30,000 when their fraud tip leads to a conviction.
Story Highlights
- The Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, called WHIP, sets aside $25 million for cash rewards.
- A tip pays only if it leads to a fraud conviction or a significant federal enforcement action, not a mere claim.
- Tips go through fraud.gov, and the Justice Department runs the program.
- Trump handed a $10,000 check to Nick Shirley, the independent journalist whose video on Minnesota day cares helped spark federal probes, the program’s first payout.
Cash for Tips That Hold Up in Court
The White House unveiled the program, timed for a joint Trump and Vance appearance in the Oval Office on Tuesday, October 20, to get more Americans to report people who steal taxpayer money. The goal is to turn everyday citizens and independent reporters into extra eyes on federal spending. A whistleblower is a person who reports wrongdoing to the authorities.
Here is how it works. A person who sees fraud involving federal dollars sends a tip through fraud.gov, the government’s fraud reporting website. The Justice Department reviews the tip and decides whether to act on it. If the tip leads to a fraud conviction or a major federal enforcement action, the person can receive up to $30,000. The rewards are paid from the program’s $25 million fund, which the Justice Department runs. The White House has not said which budget the $25 million comes from.
“This administration has zero tolerance for individuals who steal from Americans,” said White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis.
Vance’s Fraud Task Force Gets a New Tool
The program builds on the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a group Trump created by executive order in March and put Vance in charge of. The order directs the task force to get federal agencies working together to uncover fraud, tighten checks on who qualifies for benefits, and stop improper payments. An improper payment is money the government sends out that it should not have paid, or paid in the wrong amount.
The White House has not released every rule for the awards, including what counts as a “significant” action or how award amounts are set. What is clear is the bar: an accusation alone earns nothing. The tip has to produce a result.
Who Nick Shirley Is
Nick Shirley is an independent journalist and online video maker. In December 2025, he posted a video questioning whether several Somali-run day care centers in Minnesota were real businesses. The video showed what appeared to be empty buildings. Inspectors said the centers were “operating as expected,” according to reports. Shirley has stood by his work. “Well, numbers don’t lie, and convictions don’t lie either,” he said.
The White House credited his reporting with helping prompt a surge of FBI and Department of Homeland Security resources into Minnesota. Investigations, searches and arrests followed. In July, Fahima Egeh Mahamud, the former head of Future Leaders Early Learning Center, a day care shown in Shirley’s video, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Prosecutors said she took more than $4.6 million through false child care claims and $850,000 through a federal child meal program tied to the Feeding Our Future case. Feeding Our Future was a Minnesota nonprofit at the center of a large federal food-aid fraud case.
At the Oval Office event, Trump presented Shirley with a $10,000 check for his work exposing suspected fraud, the first payout under the new program.
What Citizens Should Know Before Sending a Tip
The program rewards proof, not rumors. Investigators can use facts such as dates, records, emails, invoices and the names of people who saw what happened. A tip that helps prosecutors win a case is the kind that can qualify for a reward.
Conservatives have pushed for years to stop waste and theft in federal programs. This plan puts a real reward in the hands of honest people who step forward with solid information. Every fraud case that ends in a conviction means taxpayer money is protected, and less of it ends up in the pockets of people who steal it.
