The Department of Justice on Monday announced busts in two massive fraud schemes perpetrated against U.S. taxpayers by foreign entities. A nationwide health care fraud takedown “resulted in criminal charges against 324 defendants, including 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals,” who had filed a combined $14.6 billion in fraudulent claims. The DOJ also uncovered a North Korean scheme “to fund its regime through remote information technology (IT) work for U.S. companies” under false pretenses.

The centerpiece of the health care schemes was a scam led by Russian nationals, in which 11 “members of a transnational criminal organization” fraudulently billed Medicare and private health insurance companies for $10.6 million. The scheme involved buying dozens of existing medical companies, creating fictitious records, and then submitting falsified claims, using the stolen identities of more than one million Americans. Afterward, they laundered the money into overseas bank accounts.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) “successfully prevented the [criminal] Organization from receiving the vast majority of the money that it conspired to steal,” but they still received payments of nearly $1 billion.

All told, the “2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown” exposed the largest amount of health insurance fraud ever charged, which “more than doubles [the] prior record of $6 billion,” said the DOJ.

“The scale of today’s Takedown is unprecedented, and so is the harm we’re confronting,” said Acting Health and Human Services Inspector General Juliet T. Hodgkins. “Individuals who attempt to steal from the federal health care system and put vulnerable patients at risk will be held accountable.”

Meanwhile, the North Korean scheme consisted of “fraudulently obtaining employment with U.S. companies as remote IT workers, using stolen and fake identities.” The North Koreans — many of whom were not even based in the United States — obtained employment at more than 100 U.S. companies and signed in through laptop farms set up throughout the U.S.; the DOJ searched 29 locations and recovered approximately 200 computers.

In one instance, four North Koreans stole $900,000 in virtual currency from a blockchain company based in Atlanta.

“These schemes target and steal from U.S. companies and are designed to evade sanctions and fund the North Korean regime’s illicit programs, including its weapons programs,” explained Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg.

These cases of criminality compel some straightforward conclusions.

First, it’s great to see federal law enforcement agencies rigorously enforcing the law by targeting criminals who prey on the innocent, unsuspecting, and vulnerable. A week earlier, federal and state law enforcement had rescued 60 trafficked children in a single sweep. This should be taken for granted. During the past four years, the Biden administration concentrated federal law enforcement resources on their political enemies — pro-life activists, concerned parents, and traditional Catholics — rather than on real criminals. As a result, child sex trafficking more than tripled on their watch, and other now-exposed schemes prospered as well.

Second, there are malign foreign actors operating in this country who don’t have America’s best interests in mind. This should come as no surprise to those who recognize the depravity of human nature and the reality of geopolitical conflict. Many foreign actors conduct criminal enterprises in America with the open or tacit support of their government, or at least the benefit of their blind eye. This should warn America against ever allowing foreign nationals to enter our country unvetted.

Third, criminals are more than happy to siphon from the overflowing government trough. In this way, they can make a private fortune — or several — by stealing an amount that may not even be noticeable amid the total federal largesse. Federal agencies routinely fail in internal audits to account for every penny that they spend. It seems reasonable to assume that deliberate fraud — perhaps by malicious foreign actors — accounts for at least part of the problem. It also seems reasonable that the most direct way to address this problem is with aggressive auditing — of the kind envisioned by DOGE, which the Washington establishment fought so hard to box out.

For now, Christians can celebrate that the Trump administration’s roundup of foreign fraudsters makes it “not a terror to good conduct, but to bad … for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain” (Romans 13:3-4). Despite America’s many sins, God’s common grace still restrains the powers of lawlessness through the sword of government, which he has instituted.