Elon Musk flags possible social security fraud in US

The SSA, which administers retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to millions of Americans, maintains a “Death Master File” to track deceased beneficiaries and prevent improper payments. However, errors in this system are not uncommon. A 2011 report by CNN found that approximately 14,000 Americans are mistakenly added to the death list each year, often causing severe disruptions to their lives as they struggle to regain access to banking, health insurance, and other critical services.

Conversely, failures to update death records can lead to improper benefit disbursements. A 2022 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the SSA had paid over $1 billion to deceased individuals over the past decade. In 2023, a Department of the Treasury pilot programme aimed at recovering erroneous federal payments retrieved more than $31 million in funds that had been mistakenly sent to the dead.

Speaking to The New York Times, a former SSA inspector general, Patrick O’Carroll, said such errors create opportunities for fraud. “Once a deceased individual remains ‘alive’ in the system, it opens the door for bad actors to continue collecting benefits fraudulently,” he said. “This can range from identity theft to organised criminal schemes.”

A Political Firestorm

Musk’s revelations have quickly become a political flashpoint. While some have praised his scrutiny of the federal bureaucracy, others have accused him of sensationalising the issue.

Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, defended Musk’s initiative, arguing that Washington has long failed to hold agencies accountable. “Government incompetence has been costing taxpayers for decades,” Paxton said. “If someone like Musk wants to take a closer look, let him.”

However, privacy advocates have expressed concerns over how Musk and DOGE obtained the Social Security records. “We need transparency on how this data was accessed and whether privacy laws were followed,” said Jake Sullivan, a cybersecurity policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

SSA Yet to Respond