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No, the government is not sending $2,400 checks if you earn less than $30 an hour
If Your Time is short
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There is no government program giving out $2,400 checks a month.
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The claim is the latest scam fact-checked by PolitiFact that targets vulnerable people and offers subsidies from nonexistent government programs.
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No spin, just facts you can trust. Here's how we do it.
A government program that promises $2,400 each month may sound too good to be true. Well, it is.
In a Facebook video first posted Jan. 6, a driver approaches a man who is wearing a Walmart employee's vest and pushing shopping carts in the store's parking lot. The driver says, "Sir, bet I could get you to quit your job right now."
The man is initially skeptical but the driver asks if he makes less than $30 an hour and then shows him a check of $2,418.44. The driver claims he got it as part of a government program for people earning less than $30 an hour.
"They are subsidizing the wages so if you make less than $30 an hour, you are going to get up to $2,400 every single month," the driver said.
The Facebook video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
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The video shows the man telephoning a supposed government hotline that would have him answer a few questions and be enrolled in this program. A link attached to the video leads to a website that requests personal information from visitors.
Featured Fact-check
We found no such government programs giving checks of up to $2,400 to people earning less than $30 an hour — well above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour (for nontipped workers) in 2024. The website associated with the Facebook post, fedhealth.us, is also not maintained by the federal government. Online scammers employ these schemes to extract money from unsuspecting people or use personal details, such as Social Security numbers, to steal people’s identities.
This video is the latest in a laundry list of online scams purporting to help low-income people. PolitiFact has previously checked social media videos and posts that claim to help people access governmental assistance up to $6,400, among other benefits.
We rate the claim that the government will send you a $2,400 check monthly if you earn less than $30 an hour False.
Our Sources
Facebook post, Jan. 6, 2024
USA.gov, Avoid "free money" from the government scams, accessed Jan. 29, 2024
Federal Trade Commission, How Government Grant Scammers Try To Trick You, accessed Jan. 29, 2024
PolitiFact, Congress has not passed a $6,400 subsidy for low-income Americans, Jan. 19, 2024
PolitiFact, Don’t fall for this scam: the U.S. isn’t giving everyone $6,400, Dec. 23, 2023
PolitiFact, No, this video doesn’t show Trump promoting $6,400 spending cards, Dec. 21, 2023
PolitiFact, Video on 'American Debt Relief' program misleads, Oct. 20, 2023
USA.gov, Minimum wage, accessed Jan. 29, 2024
Department of Labor, Minimum Wage, accessed Jan. 29, 2024
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No, the government is not sending $2,400 checks if you earn less than $30 an hour
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