Subcommittee on Government Operations Chairman Pete Sessions opened a hearing titled “Emerging Fraud Threats and the Evolving Fraud Landscape” in Washington on July 15. Sessions said the hearing would examine how changes to digital identity verification systems, such as Login.gov, have left vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit to create synthetic identities and apply for multiple government programs at once.
Sessions said federal agencies must focus on preventing fraud before it occurs. “As we’ve heard countless times before, once money has gone out the door, it’s hard to get that money back,” he said during his opening remarks. He also asked what types of fraud need to be prevented, noting previous discussions about individuals stealing Social Security numbers and foreign actors applying for disaster relief programs.
According to Sessions, new technologies like artificial intelligence have enabled fraudulent actors to become more sophisticated. “Identity fraud threats, specifically, are booming as fraudulent actors become smarter and gain access to tools intended to make our lives easier—namely, AI,” he said. He pointed out that platforms used for identity verification have not always met technical standards needed for effective prevention of fraud.
Sessions referenced a March 2023 subcommittee hearing focused on Login.gov and findings from the General Services Administration’s Inspector General report. He said these findings showed GSA misled clients about whether Login.gov met certain technical standards necessary for protecting taxpayer information.
He emphasized that bad actors now use deep fakes and other advanced techniques to bypass safeguards in government benefit programs. Sessions called for continuous validation of identity rather than one-time checks at the start of an application process: “Considering the rapid evolution of identity fraud—we should start thinking about validating and verifying identity continuously.” He also discussed introducing bipartisan legislation earlier this year—the Stop Identity Fraud and Identity Theft Act—to strengthen digital identity infrastructure across government programs.
Sessions concluded by expressing hope that testimony from witnesses would help inform further improvements: “We have a great panel of witnesses who can shed light on new identity fraud threats plaguing our systems, how the fraud landscape is evolving, and what the government must do to keep up.”