The FBI now has a dedicated wanted list for one specific kind of criminal: the people who steal from Americans by the millions and then run.

On June 4, 2026, at a news conference in Columbus, Ohio, the bureau launched its new Most Wanted Fraudsters list — a national registry that publicly identifies fugitives accused of large-scale financial schemes. The featured cases range from $1.3 million to a staggering $1.2 billion in alleged losses, money taken from taxpayers, consumer investments, and the public programs meant to care for the vulnerable.

The list is modeled on the logic that has long made the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted effective: put a fugitive’s face in front of the public, attach a reward, and turn the entire country into potential tipsters. Among those featured is Christopher W. Burns, wanted for an alleged mail-fraud scheme in Georgia, with the FBI offering up to $150,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

A New Front in Fraud Enforcement

The launch was deliberately paired with a show of force. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer used the Columbus event to unveil a federal-state partnership between the Justice Department and Ohio officials — including data-sharing agreements designed to detect and prosecute fraud faster.

“Some criminals have gotten so bold, so audacious as to defraud the government of tens of millions of dollars,” Blanche said, framing the new tools as a response to fraud that has grown brazen. Toepfer was terser: “The days of deception are over. We will investigate and prosecute those individuals responsible.”

The week’s announcements collectively involved more than $57 million in alleged losses across multiple cases — among them a COVID-era PPP loan scheme topping $1.4 million and an international romance-fraud network accused of stealing over $15 million from more than 130 victims using AI-built personas.

The $30 Million Scheme That Billed for Children’s Therapy

The case that anchored the announcement is, in its details, especially grim. Four defendants were charged with submitting more than $30 million in fraudulent Medicaid claims — billing the program for therapy and psychotherapy services supposedly provided to children and young adults.

According to prosecutors, the services were billed as occurring at summer camps, church groups, and recreational programs — settings where the clinical “treatment” either never happened or was medically unnecessary and nothing like what was claimed. In other words, a program meant to fund mental-health care for kids was allegedly turned into a billing machine.

The proceeds went where fraud proceeds tend to go. Authorities seized:

  • Three bank accounts holding roughly $469,000
  • 14 vehicles valued at about $800,000, including six Mercedes-Benz cars, a Bentley, a BMW, a Jaguar, a Maserati, two Land Rovers, a GMC, and a McLaren

The contrast — a fleet of luxury cars financed by billing Medicaid for children’s therapy that allegedly never properly happened — is exactly the kind of “bold and audacious” fraud the new enforcement push is meant to target.

Why a Wanted List Matters

For all the data analytics and federal-state coordination on display, fraud enforcement still hits a wall when the accused flees — often overseas, often with the money. Indictments mean little against a defendant who can’t be found. A public Most Wanted list, with rewards, is an old tool aimed squarely at that problem: it scales the search beyond what investigators can do alone, and it raises the personal cost of running.

It also sends a signal. By creating a category specifically for fraudsters, the FBI is treating large-scale financial crime as belonging in the same tier of public attention as violent fugitives — a recognition that schemes draining millions from taxpayers and seniors cause real, widespread harm.

What This Means for You

Most of these schemes are funded, ultimately, by the public — through Medicaid, Medicare, relief programs, and the tax base. But individuals can play a direct role in catching them.

You can be the tip. The Most Wanted Fraudsters list exists so the public can help locate fugitives. If you recognize someone or have information, the FBI accepts tips at tips.fbi.gov — and in cases like Burns’s, rewards can reach six figures.

Watch your own Medicaid and Medicare statements. Healthcare fraud frequently relies on billing in real patients’ names. Review your Explanation of Benefits and report services you never received to 1-800-MEDICARE or oig.hhs.gov.

Protect program-benefit numbers. Medicaid and Medicare numbers are targets. Never share them with anyone who contacts you unsolicited offering “free” services or equipment.

Report fraud against public programs. Suspected fraud can be reported to the HHS Office of Inspector General and the FBI. Those reports feed the data-sharing systems officials highlighted this week.

The new list won’t deter every fraudster. But for the ones already charged and on the run, the calculus just changed: their faces, their alleged schemes, and a reward for finding them are now public. As Toepfer put it, the days of quietly disappearing with the money are meant to be over.