All too often, whistleblowers who disclose fraud to their employers, law enforcement, or government agencies suffer retaliation.

In creating this daily blog project, Fraud By The Numbers, we have documented three key facts.

Fraud whistleblowing works, and it remains the most effective tool in preventing fraud on the government.

In 2019, less than 0.25% of civil cases filed involved False Claims Act violations.

When you look at the actual numbers, whistleblowers recover far less for doing the right thing.

The U.S. government spends the net worth of the world’s richest person every year on things other than healthcare and defense.

The federal government sets a goal of awarding 23 percent of contracts to small businesses each year.

The Takata Air bag disaster shows that whistleblowers are needed to detect major systematic safety issues.

Only 35 defense fraud cases were filed by whistleblowers in 2020.

In FY2020 alone, the Department of Defense obligated $420 billion to federal contracts, more than all other federal agencies combined.