Elon Musk ‘uncovers’ 20M in social security database over age 100 — here’s why they’re listed and don’t get benefits

NY Post ^ | Josh Christenson

[RoosterRedux]

Tesla and X CEO-turned-special government employee Elon Musk claimed to have uncovered “the biggest fraud in history” when he stumbled across more than 20 million people listed in the Social Security database as over 100 years old.

“According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE!” Musk posted on X late Sunday, showing a chart of ages ranging from zero to 369 years old.

“Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,” he joked, adding that “there are FAR more ‘eligible’ social security [sic] numbers than there are citizens in the USA. This might be the biggest fraud in history.”

However, Musk’s bombshell has long been known by the Social Security Administration (SSA) watchdog, which released an audit in July 2023 showing that 18.9 million people listed as 100 years or older — but not dead — were in the database.

Only 86,000 people living in the US at the time were actually centenarians, according to the Census Bureau.

The same inspector general’s office found in a March 2015 audit that 6.5 million people with Social Security numbers but no death information were over 112 years old — despite just 35 people on the planet having reached that ripe old age.

In both audits, the inspectors general concluded that “almost none” were actually cashing Social Security checks — despite the glaring accounting errors identifying people born in 1886 and 1893 as still living, in two extreme cases.

Roughly 18.4 million uncovered in the 2023 audit had not received benefits or reported income for 50 years, meaning they were likely dead.

[Raycpa]

Define “almost none”.

[RoosterRedux]

I post this not to cast doubt on the DOGE findings but to present this skeptical opposing view.

Frankly, I think Elon and DOGE have more insight into this matter than the NY Post.

[ClearCase_guy]

I don’t think this makes sense.

[vaskypilot]

Social security does direct deposit, where are the deposits going?

[pgyanke]

If they’re not cashing checks, there’s still a reason to have them on the list… cross reference with voter rolls…

[HIDEK6]

“Almost” none?

[glorgau]

> Define “almost none”.

Police officer comes to your door and says “Almost none of your relatives just died in a car crash”.

[Wuli]

The problem is the lack of accuracy leaves the SSA easily subject to fraud by anyone aware of the SSA’s poor accounting of people in its database.

[Raycpa]

I am skeptical even if they are not getting checks. What other loophole exists by keeping them active?

Why not run a program to remove all over 150 or all who have not received benefits in the last 5 years?

[Fai Mao]

Then why are they still in the system?

the only possible reasons are: laziness, fraud, incompetence, some of all three.

[SauronOfMordor]

Whatever the reason, the list of names should be checked out and resolved.

[Skwor]

The NY Post writer is full of garbage on this. The writer fails to define what “almost none” is, total weasel words.

Also the writer fails to address how easy this makes thing like voter fraud and scams and allows for hiding payments on one time transfer. The SS numbers can be used to hide all kinds of transactions allowing the people commuting fraud to hide their tracks and make off clean with the money.

The naivety of the write is criminal and his article amounts to deep state cover.

[wiseprince]

It’s also a nice list to hand over to DHS. Anyone with a phony number and not a citizen is ripe for a deportation

[A_perfect_lady]

If they are keeping them on the rolls, the only honest reason I can think of is to prevent the numbers from being re-issued... if that’s a problem, and I don’t know if it is.

But the more likely reason is that those numbers are being used for something else. Voters? Illegal immigrants? I don’t know, and I’d like to know.

[SkiKnee]

If nothing else, it seems to me it shows what a complete mess our national government makes of its own accounting. If these names are not cashing SS checks and were born in the 19th century why the he!! are they still on the SSA rolls?!

[econjack]

Nowrasteh explained to The Post in a Monday phone interview that migrants were “stealing identities of people who are deceased but not marked in the Social Security system.”

Oh, I feel much better now knowing that MY TAX DOLLARS are going to illegals rather than dead people.

[HIDEK6]

Sounds like a lame excuse to cover fraud.

[pepsi_junkie]

So the 'pay no attention to this' argument the media makes here is 'hey, we always knew this! we had an audit and found the same thing but it's okay, none of them -- well, almost none -- are cashing checks!'

So if they knew about it and it has nothing to do with fraud, why are they still listed?

[dforest]

Look at this. I bet ole Joe and Hunter were drooling.

https://x.com/ProjectConstitu/status/1890233359894184236