作者： root

AI深伪成诈骗工具 假迪拜王子骗情又骗财

2026年7月3日 11:57 / 联合早报

AI摘要

• 诈骗团伙利用AI深度伪造技术冒充迪拜王储哈姆丹，在约会网站和社交平台实施爱情骗局。
• 受害者被诱骗支付数万比索，用于所谓“结婚证”“皇室会员卡”及酒店预订费等虚假名目。
• 骗子使用篡改图片、伪造视频通话，并抄袭王子诗歌博取信任，部分群组拥有数千粉丝。
• 全球反诈骗联盟称去年诈骗损失达4420亿美元，请愿书呼吁提高对AI深伪诈骗的警惕。

本摘要由AI辅助生成，仅供参考

骗子利用哈姆丹的形象，借助他庞大的网络影响力，有时甚至抄袭​​王子的诗歌来欺骗受害者。 （示意图）

骗子利用哈姆丹的形象，借助他庞大的网络影响力，有时甚至抄袭​​王子的诗歌来欺骗受害者。 （示意图）

一些诈骗团伙利用人工智能深度伪造，冒充公众人物制造爱情骗局，受害者众多。

法新社报道，菲律宾家政工人玛丽亚在一个约会网站上认识了冒充迪拜王储哈姆丹（笔名法扎）的骗子。两人随后开始在即时通讯软件WhatsApp上聊天，骗子疯狂地给她发送浪漫信息。

“他甚至在我睡觉的时候也一直在给我发信息。感觉就像中了爱情魔咒，让我们心意相通。”

她展示的视频通话录像显示，骗子伪装成王子，在屏幕上闪现，栩栩如生。他的口型与说话内容相符，但声音却并非王子本人。

“亲爱的，你好，我非常感谢你的爱和支持。”

后来，骗子哄骗玛丽亚支付10万比索（约2104新元），声称这是结婚证和“皇室会员卡”，并说这些可以帮助她在迪拜找到工作。

当骗子提出在酒店与她见面，并索要6万比索的预订费时，玛丽亚起了疑心。她仔细查看了骗子的脸书，发现账户位于尼日利亚。

她切断了所有联系，只发了最后一条信息：“骗子，滚蛋！”

这只是“假迪拜王子”骗局的其中一种手法，他们既骗取钱财，也骗取同情。

骗子利用哈姆丹的形象，借助他庞大的网络影响力，有时甚至抄袭​​王子的诗歌来欺骗受害者。

法新社称，在脸书上发现多个群组冒充哈姆丹，其中一些群组拥有数千名粉丝，邀请用户通过WhatsApp或Telegram与“王子”聊天。

这些群组发布经过篡改但栩栩如生的图片，其中一张图片显示王子单膝跪地，手捧戒指；另一张图片显示他递上一朵红玫瑰，并配文：“亲爱的，能在WhatsApp上收到‘我爱你’吗？”

越来越多人在呼吁对此提高警惕。一份名为“阻止法扎骗局”的Change.org请愿书呼吁哈姆丹的工作人员提高公众对冒充王室成员的诈骗分子的警惕性。这些诈骗分子使用迪拜的电话号码，并“以捐款或伪造结婚证的名义索要大笔钱财”。

请愿书指出：“诈骗分子会要求受害者在其他国家的银行账户中支付大笔款项，有时甚至要求使用加密货币，这使得追踪更加困难。”

全球反诈骗联盟估计，去年全球消费者因诈骗蒙受4420亿美元损失。

互联网上充斥着人工智能驱动的换脸技术和新一代动作捕捉工具。这些工具能够生成高度逼真的视频，使用户能够实时精确地操控人物的动作和面部表情。

美国康奈尔大学信息科学、市场营销与管理传播学教授兰德告诉法新社：“这项技术正在迅速发展，实时视频深度伪造技术很可能很快就会变得越来越好。”

“一旦这种情况发生，我们将几乎无法判断任何非面对面对话的真伪。”

Secret Service missed ‘multiple opportunities’ to prevent Trump assassination attempt: watchdog

2026-07-02T18:43:43-04:00 / Fox News

Secret Service missed 102 radio warnings and failed to block a known line-of-sight risk at the campaign rally, OIG said

Lawmaker who surveyed Butler roof sounds off on security breaches at latest Trump assassination attempt

House Homeland Security Committee member Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., spoke about the next steps Congress will or should take in probing failures at the WHCA Dinner, where an armed gunman allegedly targeted Trump administration officials.

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The U.S. Secret Service “missed multiple opportunities” to prevent or disrupt the July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump as he spoke to supporters during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General said in a report released Thursday.

The 64-page document detailed several lapses in security that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to get a line of sight of Trump as he stood on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, during the July 13, 2024, event.

“The Secret Service’s overall lack of policy and processes coupled with limited intelligence sharing and poor collaboration and communication with protectee staff and state and local law enforcement set the conditions that led to missing opportunities to prevent and detect the attempted assassination,” the report states.

Among the OIG’s findings was a failure to warn Trump’s protective detail that Crooks had a range finder and a long gun and had climbed onto the roof of a nearby building due to a lack of communication between the Secret Service and local law enforcement.

TWO MEN SHOT AT TRUMP’S BUTLER RALLY SUE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OVER SECRET SERVICE ‘PREVENTABLE FAILURES’

Republican candidate Donald Trump with blood on his face surrounded by Secret Service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pa., July 13, 2024. A Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report released Thursday detailed several mistakes made by the U.S. Secret Service that could have prevented or disrupted the shooting, officials said.(Getty Images/Rebecca Droke)

Instead, they operated out of separate locations 257 yards apart with intermittent and highly limited radio connectivity between them.

As a result, the Secret Service missed 102 radio transmissions regarding an increasingly intense search for a suspicious individual, including alerts that the suspect was on the roof with a long gun.

A flag is displayed during Donald Trump’s campaign rally as he returns to the site of the July assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pa., Oct. 5, 2024.(Reuters/Brian Snyder)

Because the Secret Service communications room only received a handful of phone calls and texts, agents failed to recognize the urgency of the threat and never warned Trump’s protective detail to delay the speech or remove him from the stage, the OIG said.

“Communications was a problem because of inoperability. There were too many command posts,” Paul Eckloff, a former Secret Service agent, told Fox News Digital. “The biggest failure that is probably not addressed in the OIG report is that they never should have accepted the risk of doing it at this site. It never should have been done. That roof had an egregious line of site.”

SECRET SERVICE, TSA AND NYPD TRANSFORM MADISON SQUARE GARDEN INTO FORTRESS FOR TRUMP’S NBA FINALS VISIT

Crooks was able to fire eight shots. Trump was grazed in the ear, and Corey Comperatore, 50, who was attending the rally, was killed. Two other spectators were critically injured but survived.

Moments after Trump was shot, Secret Service agents rushed the stage and moved him to safety.

In addition to a lack of communication, the Secret Service failed to detect Crooks’ drone flight that he used to view the campaign event stage less than three hours before the rally due to an under-trained operator and an equipment malfunction, the report states.

Crooks flew the drone undetected for almost nine minutes and flew 471 yards from the event stage at an altitude of 102 feet. During the rally, the Secret Service had a counter-drone system on site, but it malfunctioned.

The counter-drone system was not operational when Crooks flew his drone hours before he tried to kill Trump.

A U.S. Secret Service agent, left, protects President Donald Trump, right.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The agency also failed to share intelligence about a long-distance threat to Trump with the Pittsburgh field office and agents on site, the report said.

Agents also failed to secure the area outside the security perimeter and did not use available resources to block Crooks’ line of sight from the roof of the American Glass Research International building to Trump despite the line of sight being identified as a concern, the OIG said.

Despite identifying the AGR complex as a line-of-sight vulnerability during advanced walkthroughs, the Secret Service failed to ensure the view to the stage was obstructed.

“There should have been a better advance, more officers, more agents, but there’s simply a limit to that,” Eckloff said.

Officials originally proposed using trucks already onsite to block the view from the AGR complex, but Trump’s campaign staff rejected the idea because it would interfere with press photographs.

WHITE HOUSE UFC TERROR PLOT ‘RINGLEADER’ IS A MEXICAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT, DHS CONFIRMS

An agent proposed a secondary location for the trucks but never verified that the campaign staff actually moved the equipment. As a result, Crooks had an unobstructed view of Trump’s podium from a distance of just 155 yards, the report said.

The turnout coat of Corey Comperatore, a retired volunteer fire department chief who was shot and killed in the July assassination attempt against Donald Trump, in the stands during a moment of silence during a rally in Butler, Pa., Oct. 5, 2024.(Reuters/Carlos Barria)

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Secret Service and the White House.

The report offered several recommendations to improve the Secret Service’s processes for securing events, such as mandatory threat communication, enhanced counter-drone training and a process to formally document the identification and blocking of line-of-sight vulnerabilities.

_Louis Casiano is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to_louis.casiano@fox.com_._

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6394102822112

美通报中美外长通话 鲁比奥强调构建建设性双边关系重要性

2026年7月3日 07:01 / 联合早报

美国国务卿鲁比奥（图）在与中国外长王毅通话时，谈及构建具战略稳定性的建设性双边关系的重要性。图为鲁比奥6月25日在巴林国际机场向媒体发表讲话。 （法新社）

美国国务卿鲁比奥与中国外长王毅通话时，谈及构建具战略稳定性的建设性双边关系的重要性。

美国国务院于当地时间星期四（7月2日）在官网发布简短声明，证实鲁比奥与王毅进行通话，但未披露双方对话的具体时间。

声明引述鲁比奥指出，按照美国总统特朗普所概述的原则，建立基于公平与对等、且具有战略稳定性的建设性双边关系至关重要。

此前，新华社星期三（7月1日）深夜发布通稿，披露王毅在前一天同鲁比奥通电话。

王毅表示，今年5月，两国元首在北京达成“构建中美建设性战略稳定关系”等一系列重要共识，为未来三年乃至更长时间的中美关系作出战略指引、明确发展方向。

与鲁比奥通话 王毅：台湾问题牵一发动全身

王毅并指出，双方应将两国元首重要共识转化为具体政策和切实举措；构建建设性战略稳定关系“不是一句口号，需要付诸行动、相向而行”。他也强调，双方要拉长合作清单、打造更多积极议程，同时压缩问题清单、管控风险隐患。

他并强调“台湾问题牵一发动全身”，希望美方务必慎之又慎对待涉台事务。

新华社通稿称，双方一致认为此次通话是“积极、建设性”的，同意共同落实两国元首达成的重要共识，并继续以灵活方式保持沟通。

西班牙攻守兼备3比0完胜奥地利 轻松闯入16强

2026年7月3日 07:02 / 联合早报

波罗（左）和梅开二度的奥亚萨瓦尔（右）包办了西班牙的全部进球。 （路透社）

（英格伍德综合电）2026年世界杯夺冠热门“斗牛士”西班牙展现绝对实力，在新加坡时间星期五（7月3日）凌晨的32强赛中以3比0完胜奥地利的同时，也令对手全场零射正。他们将在16强赛中对战克罗地亚和葡萄牙之间的胜者。

斗牛士从开场起就展现出极佳的状态。亚马尔（Yamal）在边路屡屡撕开奥地利的防线，曾一度由库库雷拉（Cucurella）近距离射门得手，但由于奥地利门将施拉格尔（Schlager）被犯规在先，进球被判无效。

不过在第36分钟，库库雷拉送出一记精准的传中，奥亚萨瓦尔（Oyarzabal）顺势将球扫入球门死角，打破僵局。好在施拉格尔在半场结束前连续扑出了西班牙队的自由球及后续的补射，凭借一己之力让奥地利在半场时仅以一球落后，保留了比赛悬念。

不过西班牙的攻势绵绵不断。第66分钟，波罗（Porro）头球破门，为西班牙扩大比分。第89分钟，面对防线出现明显漏洞、心态不稳的奥地利，奥亚萨瓦尔完成双响，攻进了个人本届赛事的第四个进球，并助球队以3比0锁定胜局。

西班牙此前在三场小组赛中完成零封，并且没有让对手在上半场完成过一次射正。本场比赛，他们甚至没有让奥地利全场完成过一次射正。他们也成为了自2014年世界杯决赛德国对阵阿根廷以来，首支在世界杯淘汰赛阶段让对手“零射正”的球队。

点击《联合早报》世界杯专页，获知世界杯比分、赛程和最新新闻等资讯。

Sanctuary county refused 615 ICE transfer requests, turned over just 11 illegal immigrants, records show

2026-07-02T17:54:10-04:00 / Fox News

America First Legal obtained sheriff’s office records exposing how the sanctuary policy shielded hundreds from DHS

By Charles Creitz Fox News

Published July 2, 2026 5:54pm EDT

Angel mom Cheryl Minter demands accountability from Fairfax DA

The House GOP grilled Fairfax DA Steve Descano over his controversial soft-on-crime record, particularly his office’s leniency toward illegal immigrant criminals. During powerful testimony, Angel Mom Cheryl Minter detailed how her daughter’s murder by an alleged illegal alien with over 30 prior arrests highlighted the tragic consequences.

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FIRST ON FOX: Records obtained by a conservative legal group show Fairfax County, Virginia, declined to transfer 615 illegal immigrants to ICE over the past 16 months, while turning over just 11.

Fairfax County, whose board includes one Republican supervisor for what is the most populous jurisdiction in the Old Dominion, formally designated itself a sanctuary jurisdiction in 2021 after passing the Public Trust and Confidentiality Policy or “Trust Policy.”

America First Legal filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the county seeking records from the office of Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid, who testified at a contentious House hearing earlier this spring on Fairfax’s reluctance to cooperate with federal law enforcement.

The data, obtained directly from a Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office document, showed that for the entirety of 2025, Kincaid’s office refused to transfer 448 illegal immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security for processing and instead only turned over a total of nine to ICE. During the first four months of 2026, Fairfax declined to transfer another 167 illegal immigrants, while turning over only two.

WATCH: ANGEL MOM TURNS TABLES ON SANCTUARY POLITICIANS WITH BASIC QUESTION ABOUT THEIR PRIORITIES

Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid(Eva Russo/Getty Images)

Since then, county policy has barred law enforcement from honoring ICE civil detainers or otherwise assisting with federal immigration enforcement.

America First Legal (AFL), which first obtained the data, placed much of the blame on Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephen Descano, who sat beside Kincaid at the recent hearing and faced sharp questioning from Republicans over his prosecutorial discretion in cases involving illegal immigrants arrested in the county.

SOROS-BACKED DA’S LAX ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION POLICIES LED TO ‘PREVENTABLE’ BUS STOP STABBING MURDER: COMPLAINT

AFL said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital that Fairfax’s overall framework encourages recidivism by illegal immigrant offenders and has directly led to several gruesome cases, including the murder of Fredericksburg, Virginia, woman Stephanie Minter, whose alleged killer is an illegal immigrant from West Africa with a lengthy criminal record in Fairfax County.

AFL noted that Descano is under investigation by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division over claims U.S. citizens are effectively discriminated against because of the prosecutor’s stated preferential policies, which appeared on his campaign pages and elsewhere and were highlighted by Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock, R-Calif., and others during the hearing.

The group pointed to fatal stabbings; the alleged assault of a woman on the Washington & Old Dominion Trail, a popular rail trail spanning from Washington, D.C., to Purcellville that has long been considered safe; and other crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants who, it said, received light sentences or had charges dropped.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS BLUE STATE’S LAW PROHIBITING ICE AGENTS FROM WEARING MASKS ON THE JOB

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6395571266112

Far-left prosecutor apologizes to Angel mom in tense hearing

Descano has long defended his prosecutorial discretion as evidence-based and handled on a case-by-case basis.

A Descano spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement Thursday that the DOJ’s probe is politically motivated and has “distort[ed] the office’s policy.” The spokesperson also said the notice appeared to arrive intentionally just before Descano testified before McClintock.

“Our office’s policies are fair, legal and reflect the values of Fairfax County, and we will not be distracted from our mission of keeping this community safe and holding individuals accountable when they commit crimes,” the spokesperson said.

Fox News Digital also reached out to Kincaid’s office for comment.

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, left, and Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid, right, testify before Congress.(Tom Williams/Getty Images)

AFL counsel Will Scolinos rejected the county’s defense, telling Fox News Digital that tragic cases such as Minter’s murder are the product of the Trust Policy and the shielding of “hundreds of illegal aliens … from federal law enforcement.”

“This deliberate obstruction by county officials protects illegal alien lawbreakers and endangers every family in Northern Virginia,” Scolinos said. “For too many families, it is already too late. But to protect other Virginians from future crimes at the hands of illegal aliens with prior arrests, Fairfax County must reverse this reckless, anti-American governance immediately.”

In the most recent month recorded, April 2026, 32 illegal immigrants were listed as being in the sheriff’s office’s custody, with none released to ICE. All 32 were subject to an “informed detainer,” and three were listed as convicted.

AFL also noted that Santa Clara County, California — home to the San Francisco 49ers’ new stadium — informed the group that it received 529 ICE detainer requests in 2025 and honored none.

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https://www.foxnews.com/video/6395559447112

House panel probes Fairfax County sanctuary policies after murder

“If each detainer represents a unique illegal alien, an average of 1.34 arrested illegal aliens were released into Santa Clara every day,” AFL said in April.

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The numbers reflect a pattern that is expected to continue drawing scrutiny from the Trump administration and groups such as AFL, which has also sought data from sanctuary jurisdictions nationwide.

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment.

中国称日菲海域划界谈判构成国际不法行为

2026年7月3日 07:50 / 联合早报

2018年4月18日，中国航母辽宁舰在西太平洋参加中国人民解放军海军的军事演习。 （路透社档案照片）

中国就日本与菲律宾即将举行的海域划界谈判向两国发出法律警告，指该谈判构成“国际不法行为”。此举凸显北京正加大力度向华盛顿的这两个关键区域盟友施压，以应对日菲试图抗衡中国在海上强势姿态的举措。

中国自然资源部下属机构“中国海洋发展战略研究所”星期四（7月2日）发布《关于日菲宣布启动双边海域划界的法律评论》。报告指出，日菲谈判未与中国协商，无视区域特定地理情况，违背国际法上主权平等、善意原则以及合作与克制义务，构成国际不法行为。

报告敦促日菲立即停止推进双边海域划界谈判，积极与中国展开协商。

报告强调，“台湾是中国领土不可分割的一部分，这牵涉中国依据包括《联合国海洋法公约》在内的国际法，在台湾岛以东主张的大面积专属经济区和大陆架。”

报告说，日菲不得借所谓“划界”挑战一个中国原则，不得以任何形式将台湾当局引入所谓“划界”进程，否则将是对一中原则的严重挑衅。

报告还警告各国不应为日菲提供协助，远离国家责任和政治风险。“相关国家应充分评估参与此类行动或承认其合法性的法律后果，不介入、不支持、不承认日菲非法划界进程。”

彭博社分析指出，此举表明，北京对马尼拉和东京决定就台湾以东海域展开海域边界谈判日益不满。自日菲宣布将启动海域划界谈判以来，中国大陆已多次派遣海警船赴该海域巡逻，并派出测量船进行海底测绘。

近期，中国大陆还多次派遣海警船在台湾以东、靠近日本与那国岛以南的海域宣示主权。对此，日本已多次通过外交渠道提出抗议。

为应对北京的施压，日本和菲律宾同时采取了深化军事关系的举措。日菲两国已于今年5月同意提升双边关系，并启动一系列防务对话。

Mitch McConnell still hospitalized after EMS responded to his home for “unconscious” person last month

2026-07-02T17:56:00-0400 / CBS News

By Caitlin Yilek
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.

Updated on: July 2, 2026 / 6:00 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — Sen. Mitch McConnell remains in the hospital and “continues to improve,” a spokesperson for the Kentucky Republican said in a statement Thursday, just over two weeks after he was initially hospitalized.

McConnell was hospitalized on June 14. On the same day, emergency medical personnel went to his home to respond to an unconscious person, according to a public EMS dispatch call reviewed by CBS News this week.

During the call, a dispatcher called in a “cardiac arrest” and a medic said there was “CPR in progress” at McConnell’s address. The dispatcher also said somebody was “unconscious.” The senator’s name is not mentioned during the EMS call, and CBS News has not confirmed the identity of the unconscious person.

McConnell’s team has not confirmed that the dispatch call was about the senator or provided more information about why he was admitted to the hospital.

“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, has faced several health scares in recent years. In a May 19 committee hearing, the 84-year-old was seen with a bandage around his hand. In February, McConnell spent more than a week in the hospital after he checked himself in for “flu-like symptoms.”

In 2023, he was hospitalized with a concussion after a fall and later appeared to freeze in two separate instances. He suffered minor injuries in 2024 after another fall.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/what-to-know-about-mitch-mcconnells-decision-retire/

Letitia James hammered after NY Medicaid fraud unit funding frozen over ineffective enforcement

The report found the unit secured fewer than 10 criminal fraud indictments in four of the past five years

July 2, 2026 4:21pm EDT / Fox News

Lawmakers on a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee question Medicaid officials from California, Ohio, Minnesota and New York regarding accusations of widespread fraud and inadequate oversight.

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New York Attorney General Letitia James is facing renewed criticism from Republicans after the Trump administration suspended federal funding for the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), citing years of poor criminal enforcement performance and leadership decisions that federal officials say left fraud investigations lagging.

The federal action gives Republicans a new line of attack against James as she campaigns for re-election. Republican challenger Saritha Komatireddy has made the state’s struggling Medicaid Fraud Control Unit a key issue in the race, arguing James failed to aggressively prosecute fraud. Federal watchdogs’ findings now lend new weight to those claims.

“Letitia James ran New York’s Medicaid Fraud Unit into the ground, and now we know why: a deliberate leadership choice to open fewer cases and let them drag on for years,” Komatireddy said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“This means New York taxpayers are losing their hard-earned money to fraudsters, and patients and seniors are being hurt or neglected, and no one is holding them accountable.”

DR. OZ NAMES 5 STATES IN FRAUD CRACKDOWN AS TRUMP ADMIN TARGETS MEDICAID ABUSE

The Republican Attorneys General Association also chimed in on the funding freeze, arguing it reflected broader differences between Republican and Democratic attorneys general in combating fraud.

“While Republican attorneys general are aggressively fighting fraud, waste, and abuse, Democrat AGs like Keith Ellison in Minnesota and Letitia James in New York knowingly aid and abet scams and fraud in their states,” RAGA Executive Director Adam Piper said in a statement.

“Republican AGs are thrilled to roll up our sleeves and work with JD Vance, Republican AG staff alum Andrew Ferguson, Scott Brady, and the White House Task Force to save taxpayers billions of dollars and deliver maximum accountability.”

New York Attorney General GOP candidate Saritha Komatireddy blasted AG James for failing to adequately investigate and prosecute Medicaid fraud.(Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)

In a June 30 letter denying the unit’s annual recertification, Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) officials concluded that New York’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit had become the lowest-performing large state unit in the nation for criminal Medicaid fraud enforcement despite receiving roughly $60 million annually in federal funding and employing more than 270 staff members.

“The New York MFCU is not effectively prosecuting criminal Medicaid fraud,” the letter stated. “The Unit reported only 53 fraud convictions from 2023 to 2025. This is by far the lowest among similar-sized Units; the next lowest number of reported fraud convictions for this period was 129.

“Enough is enough.”

The report also found New York ranked last in criminal indictments, securing fewer than 10 fraud indictments in four of the past five years.

Federal officials further found that 34% of the unit’s open cases were more than three years old, while 69% of referrals from the state’s Medicaid Program Integrity Unit had remained pending for at least two years, contributing to a growing investigative backlog.

The HHS letter concluded that the unit’s poor performance stemmed in large part from “a deliberate leadership choice” to prioritize high-impact civil fraud cases over criminal prosecutions, finding that strategy had left the office ineffective at pursuing criminal Medicaid fraud despite its size and resources.

PENNSYLVANIA AG EXPLAINS WHY STATE LEADS NATION IN MEDICAID FRAUD CONVICTIONS WHILE OTHERS BATTLE MASS SCHEMES

New York Attorney General Letitia James attends a campaign rally with community leaders in the Jackson Heights neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York City on Nov. 1, 2022.(AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)

While federal officials acknowledged the state’s fraud unit remained competitive in civil recoveries, they said those results did not outweigh the decline in criminal enforcement.

“The Unit has sacrificed its ability to effectively fight criminal fraud to obtain civil recoveries that are largely in line with its peers,” the report stated.

James blasted the funding freeze, accusing the Trump administration of targeting New York for political reasons.

“This administration’s unprecedented attack on New York is another political distraction,” James said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “During my time as attorney general, my office has recovered more than $627 million for Medicaid and was recognized by this very administration for leading the nation in anti-fraud efforts.”

James’ office noted that HHS highlighted New York as one of four states responsible for half of all civil recoveries nationwide in fiscal year 2025. The attorney general also pointed to several recent Medicaid fraud prosecutions, including multimillion-dollar fraud cases announced in recent weeks.

“The only people this decision benefits are the criminals we investigate every day,” James said. “We are considering all legal options to stop this outrageous action.”

TRUMP SAYS ANTI-FRAUD EFFORTS ARE UNCOVERING BILLIONS IN WASTE, CLAIMS SAVINGS COULD BALANCE BUDGET

John Sarcone, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York(Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in New York said they are expanding efforts to investigate Medicaid fraud and patient abuse.

“Attorney General James’ apparent inability to explain the New York MFCU’s indefensible criminal enforcement performance is not a political distraction as she puts it,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III, who is spearheading the revival of the NDNY Health Care Fraud Task Force, said in a statement.

Sarcone noted that the New York MFCU averaged just nine criminal indictments a year between 2021 and 2025, compared with more than 100 annually during the three years preceding James’ tenure.

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“Public benefits fraud and Medicaid fraud did not abruptly stop in 2019,” Sarcone added. “Instead, under the failed leadership of AG James, criminal Medicaid fraud in New York State has been ignored.”

The suspension took effect July 1 and remains in effect through Sept. 30 unless New York completes a series of corrective actions ordered by HHS, including reducing case backlogs, increasing criminal indictments and improving coordination with federal investigators. If those deficiencies are not corrected, the Office of Inspector General warned New York it could lose its federal Medicaid Fraud Control Unit grant for fiscal year 2027.

Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.

Exclusive: Trump administration plans to boost worksite immigration enforcement after increase in criminal probes

2026-07-02T20:23:25.443Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/02/politics/worksite-immigration-enforcement-raids-trump

The Trump administration is planning for an increase in worksite immigration enforcement operations, with multiple federal agencies involved in determining how to boost the number of arrests and placate the president’s base, according to five sources familiar with the discussions.

Administration officials say that criminal investigations have been ongoing and that any additional enforcement measures would stem from those probes. A Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN there has been an “increase in criminal investigations targeting fraud.”

The internal effort comes as the administration has tried to balance carrying out a historic number of deportations without agitating key industries — from manufacturing to construction to agriculture — or unsettling a fragile economy.

The Department of Homeland Security has previously sent mixed messages on conducting raids at worksite locations. Last year, an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia kicked off a diplomatic spat between the United States and South Korea.

Immigration hardliners argue worksite enforcement is necessary to achieve the president’s broader immigration agenda.

“The reality is worksite enforcement isn’t happening and without that the numbers won’t hit the needed levels,” an administration official told CNN, referring to the state of play.

Officials from various federal agencies, including the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, have been in ongoing discussions to put together a strategy tackling worksite enforcement, three of the sources told CNN.

Part of that plan, so far, involves educating employers on hiring responsibilities, as well as conducting immigration arrests at worksites involved in criminal activity, one of the sources said. Sources cautioned that plans are still fluid and can change.

“This isn’t a new policy,” a White House official told CNN. “The administration has been conducting criminal investigations into a host of violations since the start of the administration into items like welfare fraud, benefit fraud, identity theft, and more.”

“These investigations are criminal in nature. If investigations require law enforcement action to stop those who are breaking the law, the Trump administration will enforce the law,” the official added.

It can take months, if not years, to prepare for a worksite operation, which is often based on an ongoing criminal investigation. ICE Homeland Security Investigations will generally serve notice of intent to audit a company’s immigration paperwork; perform that audit; and, if issues arise, kick off a criminal investigation.

“They’re hard because it’s mountains of paperwork and it requires a lot of analysis and due diligence to put it together to prove culpability,” a former DHS official told CNN, referring to worksite operations. “It takes quite a bit of effort.”

Immigration hardliners and allies of the president have long been urging the administration to do more on worksite enforcement, seeing it as a way to deport a large swath of undocumented immigrants beyond those who are public safety or national security threats and penalize the employers who hire them.

“The administration is going to face with a test — are they going to pass the test or not?” said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for limited immigration. “The test is whether they’re going to significantly step up job-related enforcement. That’s not just raiding worksites. That’s got to be part of it, but all the other stuff like paperwork enforcement.”

That includes putting employers on notice, he said.

The worksite push comes as the administration is also increasing its overall arrest effort. In recent days, ICE has stepped up immigration arrests, taking around 2,000 people into custody daily on average, up from previous months— a target that officials want to sustain. Last year, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller directed ICE officials to meet daily quotas of 3,000 immigration arrests — an unprecedented number that the agency struggled to meet.

“We’re seeing our arrest numbers come up. We’re seeing our deportation numbers continue to increase. Right now, we’re deporting on average over 3,000 individuals — actually, the average has been, for several weeks now, over 3,200 individuals a day,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said at a press conference in New York on Wednesday.

“We’re surging every day because we’re trying to restore law and order, regardless of whether you live in a red state or a blue state,” he added.

Last year, Trump himself wavered repeatedly on the topic of cracking down on migrant workers. At times he had suggested farms and other industries employing migrants should be protected, even as he and some top aides have pushed ICE to intensify its immigration sweeps.

That led to whiplash within ICE as agents were told to limit immigration raids at farms, hotels and restaurants — and then told to continue worksite enforcement.

It isn’t clear yet what the scope of the latest enforcement effort would be.

“This is going to inconvenience some people,” Krikorian said, referring to employers. “There’s no way to do (mass deportation) and there’s no way to encourage significant self-deportation without it.”

Supreme Court declines former Fox News reporter’s request to stay contempt order

July 2, 2026 at 4:38 p.m. EDT / The Washington Post

Catherine Herridge has been ordered to disclose a confidential source — or pay $800 a day in court sanctions.

A view of the Supreme Court in 2020. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

By Julian Mark

The Supreme Court on Thursday let stand a lower-court order that forces former Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge to either disclose a confidential source or pay $800 a day in court sanctions.

In a brief, unsigned order, the justices denied Herridge’s emergency application to stay the U.S. District Court for the D.C. Circuit’s sanctions against her for refusing to identify an anonymous source. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh noted he would have granted Herridge’s request for a stay.