The federal stimulus checks were issued for tax years 2020 and 2021. There have been no federal stimulus checks since 2021. People who filed a 2020 or 2021 return after the filing deadlines for those years were able to use the recovery rebate credit on those returns to get the stimulus money if they had not yet received it. The final deadline to get the recovery rebate credit for 2021 was April 15, 2025. Not sure what the "few people" you mention have received----but they did not receive any sort of recently issued federal stimulus check.