New Mexico officials warn of rampant scams targeting radiation victims' compensation payouts

Scam artists have been targeting the $100,000 compensation now available to eligible New Mexico victims of radiation exposure dating back to the world's first atomic bomb explosion, according to New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez.

The explosion, code-named "Trinity," occurred in New Mexico's Jornada del Muerto desert on July 16, 1945.

RECA Expansion Signed into Law

"New Mexicans who have been affected by these exposures deserve compensation and they deserve to get that compensation free from bad actors attempting to take advantage of them," Torrez said in a release shortly after a major expansion and extension of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was signed into law on July 4, 2025.

The measure finally included the New Mexico "Downwinders" from the Trinity blast and their surviving families, who were excluded from coverage when RECA initially passed in 1990. Previously, RECA covered only specific counties in Nevada, Arizona and Utah that had been exposed to fallout from more than 900 atomic tests — including 100 above ground — at the Nevada test range between January 1951 and September 1992.

At the time, the government claimed there was insufficient data on the impacts of fallout from the Trinity test to include New Mexico in the coverage.

When the new RECA bill passed last year as part of President Donald Trump's "one big beautiful" tax-cutting bill, it marked the first time in 80 years since the Trinity blast that the government acknowledged New Mexicans were entitled to federal assistance.

Warnings About Fraud

At a virtual news conference Tuesday, two days before the 81st anniversary of the Trinity blast, advocates for expanding and extending the current RECA Act — which is set to sunset in 2028 — warned again of continuing attempts by scam artists to steal compensation from victims.

Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., said the long-awaited compensation for the Downwinders had also "opened the door to rampant fraud," and urged those eligible for the $100,000 to guard against "bad actors in our community."

Vasquez also called for the current RECA Act to be extended for another 15 years past the 2028 deadline to ensure all victims are compensated, and urged that the compensation be increased from $100,000 to $150,000.

Scam Incident at Navajo Fair

Even before claims under the new RECA Act could be filed, scammers allegedly were at work last July at a booth at the Eastern Navajo Fair in Crown Point, New Mexico. The booth boasted of assistance in filing claims, according to Maggie Billman, a member of the Sawmill Warriors group advocating for radiation survivors of the Navajo Nation.

Billman told Native News Online that she was alarmed by the supposedly official claims forms attendants at the booth were handing out. The forms asked for Social Security numbers, phone numbers and the hospital where treatment was given.

"I looked at the woman and I said, 'This is not RECA. Why don't you give me your business card, and I'll be in touch? I know a lot about this bill.' That's when they stopped talking to me, and I walked away," Billman said.

Continued Advocacy

Tina Cordova, a co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium advocacy group and a cancer survivor herself, was not surprised at Billman's experience with the scammers. She added that she would continue to advocate for New Mexicans with illnesses that do not qualify for compensation under RECA.

"I think that it's high time our government realizes that we are not going to stand for justice for some," Cordova said. "We are in favor of justice for not just a few, but justice for the many, and we will continue to fight until we receive justice for all."

RECA Program Statistics

Since RECA was enacted in 1990, the program has approved over 41,000 claims, totaling more than $2.6 billion to Downwinders, according to the Justice Department, which administers the program.

The virtual news conference came two days before the 81st anniversary of the Trinity blast. In 1945, an eclectic group of scientists enrolled by physicist Robert Oppenheimer conducted the test that ushered in the atomic age.