A woman identified as a Somali migrant had an awkward moment on camera when she appeared to freeze while reading a line about fraud from prepared remarks at a child care press event. The short clip showed her arguing that child care cuts would make it harder for her to work or go to school. Then came the line and reaction that made the video spread: “I understand fraud is bad.” The moment was only a few seconds long, but it landed in the middle of a much larger Minnesota fraud story that has already put Somali-run daycare centers, state child care funding, and Nick Shirley’s viral reporting under a national spotlight.
The woman started by making the basic argument against cutting child care assistance. “If child care is cut, I’m unable to work or go to school,” she said. She then paused before adding, “I understand fraud is bad.” As she read the prepared script, she seemed to freeze before looking around in apparent panic. She then appeared to refuse to continue speaking and leave the podium.
Minnesota’s child care system had already been rocked for months by stories about allegedly empty daycare centers, millions in public funds, and federal investigators moving in after Shirley’s video went viral in December 2025. Shirley’s reporting focused on daycare centers that appeared inactive despite receiving large amounts of taxpayer money.
End Wokeness shared the video on X with the caption, “Somali migrant freezes when reading ‘fraud is bad’ from script she was given for press release.” Her immediate reaction to reading the words made the short clip spread quickly, with the post garnering over a million views on X and many more across other social media sites.
Watch the clip here:
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The fraud issue behind the clip exploded after Shirley visited multiple Minnesota daycare centers in 2025 and posted a video about what he found. Fox News reported that federal authorities were conducting a “massive” investigation in Minnesota days after Shirley’s video alleged fraud involving daycare centers. Shirley’s 42-minute video showed visits to several centers, including one location with a misspelled “Quality Learing Center” sign that was reportedly supposed to account for 99 children. The center had received roughly $4 million in state funds, and Shirley told Fox that the alleged fraud was “so obvious” that a “kindergartner could figure out that there is fraud going on.”
Attorney General at the time Pam Bondi said the Justice Department had already been investigating fraud in Minnesota for months. “So far, we have charged 98 individuals – 85 of Somali descent – and more than 60 have been found guilty in court,” Bondi wrote. She added, “We have more prosecutions coming…BUCKLE UP, LAWMAKERS!” Minnesota was already under pressure from a scandal involving at least $1 billion lost to alleged social services fraud tied to Minneapolis’ Somali community.
The Justice Department’s Criminal Division said Fahima Mahamud, the owner of Future Leaders Early Learning Center in Minneapolis, was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. DOJ said the case involved two schemes that resulted in the theft of $5,480,329 in federal funds. According to DOJ, Future Leaders obtained approximately $854,000 through inflated Federal Child Nutrition Program claims submitted to Feeding Our Future. DOJ also said Future Leaders received approximately $4.6 million from the Child Care Assistance Program to which it was not entitled.
DOJ separately described the larger Feeding Our Future case as a massive fraud scheme involving federal child nutrition funds. In a 2022 announcement, federal prosecutors said Feeding Our Future and more than 200 meal sites in Minnesota were involved in what DOJ called the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the nation. Prosecutors said the defendants fraudulently obtained and misappropriated money that was supposed to reimburse meals for children. DOJ said the defendants used the proceeds for items including luxury cars, houses, jewelry, and coastal resort property abroad.
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.