I totally get where you're coming from, but the problem with enforcement-by-whack-a-mole is that some crimes are very cheap and easy to carry out and very difficult to detect and prosecute. The asymmetry means criminals are incentivized to commit those crimes, and can even become fantastically wealthy by doing so. If there isn't an offsetting risk for them (or control), then they're going to do it. Some of those crimes can ruin victims' lives, and in some cases (like this) people can die. We simply can't afford to use no other enforcement strategies.

A good example of where we threw out the upfront controls was COVID relief money, and that was a disaster in terms of fraud. (Admittedly a purely government program, but the same principle applies.)