Posted on 02/17/2025 9:48:00 AM PST by DFG
He’s dying to know what went wrong.
An elderly Long Island man says he has been unable to collect his Social Security benefits — because the federal agency thinks he’s both dead and a fraud at the same time in what has been a years-long ordeal.
“I am suffering because every day I say, ‘Why do I deserve what happens to me?’ ” said Wilfredo Pagan, 77, of Freeport to NBC 4.
“It’s a nightmare,” said Pagan, who runs a modest religious figurine and candle store in Far Rockaway. “I think they want to kill me.”
Pagan, who is in dire need of funds to handle an onslaught of medical bills from declining health, is formally listed as deceased by the government agency, the outlet reported.
Adding insult to injury, a worker for the administration thought his Social Security card was fake and confiscated it in Freeport when he first tried rectifying the overarching problem, he said.
He said at least one agency in the federal government recognizes him — he was able to get a passport this year with his Social Security number listed on it.
But Pagan said he still receives death notices and was told at one point that someone in the Dominican Republic might be getting his benefits.
Pagan said he has provided a birth certificate and other documentation to officials — and that the denials and accusations “hurts” him emotionally.
The apparently erroneous act also prohibits him from obtaining what could be thousands of dollars in total benefits over the years.
“They say, ‘We’ll do an investigation, and we’ll call you.’ And — nothing,” said Pagan’s goddaughter, Deana Bain.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Almost like a veteran dealing with the VA.
That’s your government hard at work!
I’ll bet most everybody here has a similar story of government ineptitude and gross incompetence. We have a couple and one remains unresolved.
This is disgusting. I’m all for cutting fraud. But this guy is well over the age. Where is his lawyer? He needs to get one and get a ton of money from the government through a lawsuit. He definitely has grounds. The government thinks he’s dead? Well clearly he’s not! Spit!
Every U.S. passport that my wife and I have ever had (most recent issued in 2023) has a passport number that isn't a Social Security number. Has that changed?
Hard at work “serving” us at home.
IF someone can make sure that Trump sees this then he will take care of it.
I finally figured out the really obscure tv series title:
Darkroom, in which Claude Akins and June Lockhart were going to lose their government checks for Uncle George. They brought in a homeless man and let him live with them to pretend he is Uncle George for the checks to keep coming. But then an inspector could discover the man has two legs, unlike Uncle George. Lockhart tells the man to drink all of the whiskey as Claude Akins comes in with his power saw to solve the problem.
“Uncle George” on Darkroom.
Episode aired Dec 4, 1981.
The logic flow diagram for the Social Security system looks INSANE
Sounds like identity theft. I wonder if he is getting Medicare coverage.
Going to the SS office in person and still it’s not straightened out is really odd.
I hope someone who reads this will step in.
Hey now Wilfredo, ya know we gotta break a few eggs (denying bona fide eligible recipients) to make an omelette (continuing to pay Social Security benefits to long-lost-to-the-dust-of-the-earth 150-year-old Weekend-at-Bernie types).
Social security is never going to stop taking part of every social security check to repay interest on emergency catastrophe funds, are they? Dying is the only way to escape.
Those of you who say, “ hire a lawyer!”.. there’s no $ to be made for lawyers in cases like this. They won’t even talk to you. Republican rep Bentz is less than useless.
That’s what you get for using a Social Security number that an illegal is using.
Mine doesn’t have my SSN either .... not sure what they did prior to the 80s
“someone can make sure that Trump sees this then he will take care of it.”
Wishful thinking. No one is going to help. I’ve tried.
Expect to hear more stories like this to prevent Trump from cutting Social Security fraud.
Musk just put out a chart showing 21 million people over the age of 100 are receiving Social Security benefits.
There are only 101,000 people alive in the US over 100.
This comes out to almost 1/2 trillion dollars in payments to dead people every year. Every...year.
SS “only” pays out $1.7 trillion a year. Musk has already identified 1/2 trillion dollars in annual fraud.
In other words, Social Security is solvent, or it would be if not for the fraud.
And yet, the press and powers that be will fight this tooth and nail. I don’t know what their motive for wrecking SS with fraud is, or how they benefit, but I know it exists.
BTW, 72 million people receive SS benefits. And yet 21 million people over 100 receive SS benefits. That’s 30% of SS recipients.
And that’s just the start. How many dead people under 100 are still receiving a SS every month? Considering most people die long before they reach 100, I suspect that number is also huge.
Identity theft followed by the death of the fraudster who had claimed his identity. The man has been cheated twice now; first by the thief and then by the stupid government.
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