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Social security has some old folks!
bpost
Member Posts: 32,669 ✭✭✭✭
Many people are living longer, but not to age 112 or beyond -- except in the records of the Social Security Administration.
The SSA's inspector general has identified 6.5 million number-holders age 112 -- or older -- for whom no death date has been entered in the main electronic file, called Numident.
The audit, dated March 4, 2015, concluded that SSA lacks the controls necessary to annote death information on the records of number-holders who exceed "maximum reasonable life expectancies."
"We obtained Numident data that identified approximately 6.5 million numberholders born before June 16, 1901 who did not have a date of death on their record," the report states.
Some of the numbers assigned to long-dead people were used fraudulently to open bank accounts.
And thousands of those numbers apparently were used by illegal immigrants to apply for work: "During Calendar Years 2008 through 2011, SSA received 4,024 E-Verify inquiries using the SSNs of 3,873 numberholders born before June 16, 1901," the report said. "These inquiries indicate individuals' attempts to use the SSNs to apply for work."
"It is incredible that the Social Security Administration in 2015 does not have the technical sophistication to ensure that people they know to be deceased are actually noted as dead," said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
"Tens of thousands of these numbers are currently being used to report wages to the Social Security Administration and to the IRS. People are fraudulently, but successfully, applying for jobs and benefits with these numbers. Making sure Social Security cleans up its death master file to prevent future errors and fraud is a good government reform we can all agree on," Johnson said.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the committee's ranking member, called the findings a "major problem" that wastes taxpayers' money, exposes citizens to identity theft and undermines confidence in government:
"It is simply unacceptable that our nation's database of Social Security numbers of supposedly living people includes more than six and a half million people who are older than 112 years of age, with a few thousand having birth dates from before the Civil War. Preventing agency errors by keeping track of who has died is a relatively simple problem that the government should pursue as a high priority."
According to the IG, the Social Security Administration matches death reports received from various sources against its payment records, then records the date of a number-holder's death in its Numerical Identification System, or Numident.
Information from Numident is then used to create SSA's "Death Master File," which is used by financial institutions and various government entities to prevent identity fraud. If a death is not recorded on the Numident, it will not appear in the DMF.
The IG made four recommendations for resolving the discrepancies and improving the accuracy of the Death Master File to "prevent future misuse of these SSNs."
Why not go after the past illegal use and deport some illegals?
The SSA's inspector general has identified 6.5 million number-holders age 112 -- or older -- for whom no death date has been entered in the main electronic file, called Numident.
The audit, dated March 4, 2015, concluded that SSA lacks the controls necessary to annote death information on the records of number-holders who exceed "maximum reasonable life expectancies."
"We obtained Numident data that identified approximately 6.5 million numberholders born before June 16, 1901 who did not have a date of death on their record," the report states.
Some of the numbers assigned to long-dead people were used fraudulently to open bank accounts.
And thousands of those numbers apparently were used by illegal immigrants to apply for work: "During Calendar Years 2008 through 2011, SSA received 4,024 E-Verify inquiries using the SSNs of 3,873 numberholders born before June 16, 1901," the report said. "These inquiries indicate individuals' attempts to use the SSNs to apply for work."
"It is incredible that the Social Security Administration in 2015 does not have the technical sophistication to ensure that people they know to be deceased are actually noted as dead," said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
"Tens of thousands of these numbers are currently being used to report wages to the Social Security Administration and to the IRS. People are fraudulently, but successfully, applying for jobs and benefits with these numbers. Making sure Social Security cleans up its death master file to prevent future errors and fraud is a good government reform we can all agree on," Johnson said.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the committee's ranking member, called the findings a "major problem" that wastes taxpayers' money, exposes citizens to identity theft and undermines confidence in government:
"It is simply unacceptable that our nation's database of Social Security numbers of supposedly living people includes more than six and a half million people who are older than 112 years of age, with a few thousand having birth dates from before the Civil War. Preventing agency errors by keeping track of who has died is a relatively simple problem that the government should pursue as a high priority."
According to the IG, the Social Security Administration matches death reports received from various sources against its payment records, then records the date of a number-holder's death in its Numerical Identification System, or Numident.
Information from Numident is then used to create SSA's "Death Master File," which is used by financial institutions and various government entities to prevent identity fraud. If a death is not recorded on the Numident, it will not appear in the DMF.
The IG made four recommendations for resolving the discrepancies and improving the accuracy of the Death Master File to "prevent future misuse of these SSNs."
Why not go after the past illegal use and deport some illegals?
Comments
Why not go after the past illegal use and deport some illegals?
Lets wait a couple of years, Bruce. If we did in now and with this crew, we would end up paying back everything they paid in.
Actually, it probably would change, but we know what would happen now.
Brad Steele
must be crappy s--t computers and lousy employees that cannot ID a simple number...
It's not just a "simple number" when there are a few hundred million of them.
Video gives their "tricks" to live that long.
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/4097849599001/how-to-live-to-100-years-old/?#sp=show-clips
What Senators Johnson & Carper fail to understand is that this has nothing to do with "technical sophistication", it's more a "lack of data". When someone dies, the only persons who knows that for sure are the immediate family & the funeral director; there is no federal "Dept of the Dead". Most death notices to SSA come from funeral directors, who get $255 towards the funeral from SSA, but only IF there is a surviving spouse & the departed was a SS beneficiary. If the departed has no spouse, SSA pays nothing; so, why should the funeral director bother reporting it? With the many homeless we have, it's no wonder that they end up as "John Doe's" & no report is filed with SSA. My solution? Pay $500 to funeral directors for everyone they handle; that's cheap, considering how much that can save the SSA trust fund.
Actually, a bigger problem is that folks often die, but family members hide that fact so that the checks continue to be deposited into the bank account of the departed. Every year, several folks are convicted of fraud & go to jail, but many are never caught.
E-Verify queries may indicate fraudulent use if someone is well over 100. Or, it could just have been keying errors.
Illegals usually work in the service industry, & IRS lets them work without an SSN, provided the employer pays a lump sum FICA for all his illegals. Or, an illegal will borrow a SS card from a friend or family member, & use it to get a job; credit will be given to the person to whom the SSN was issued, but the illegal doesn't care.
Neal
Most death notices to SSA come from funeral directors, who get $255 towards the funeral from SSA, but only IF there is a surviving spouse & the departed was a SS beneficiary. If the departed has no spouse, SSA pays nothing; so, why should the funeral director bother reporting it?
The Lump Sum Death Payment is payable to a surviving spouse or minor child, not the funeral director.
If the person who receives the check wants to spend it on beer and pizza, there isn't anything the funeral director, Social Security or anyone else can do about it.
Aren't Social Security Numbers listed on your Income Tax return?
I mean, if that number has not filed an Income Tax return, wouldn't it seem logical to cross that number off of the list and then let whoever has the number explain to the "powers that be" why they did not file an Income Tax return?
Oh, and just from grins, I suppose they would not have to cross that number off the list unless they were . . . What? over 100 years old?
Sure, it might create some problems for a few 105 year old folks . . . but probably not 6.5 million of them!
No doubt those 6.5 million are also dutiful Democrat voters.
Yep, we have unprecedented number of voters older than 116, especially in socialist states like IL and NY.
Perhaps I am making it too simple but -
Aren't Social Security Numbers listed on your Income Tax return?
I mean, if that number has not filed an Income Tax return, wouldn't it seem logical to cross that number off of the list and then let whoever has the number explain to the "powers that be" why they did not file an Income Tax return?
Oh, and just from grins, I suppose they would not have to cross that number off the list unless they were . . . What? over 100 years old?
Sure, it might create some problems for a few 105 year old folks . . . but probably not 6.5 million of them!
That's the kind of thinking that could find a solution but this one might be a little too simple. There are a lot of old folks who aren't required to file an income tax return.
quote:Originally posted by US Military Guy
Perhaps I am making it too simple but -
Aren't Social Security Numbers listed on your Income Tax return?
I mean, if that number has not filed an Income Tax return, wouldn't it seem logical to cross that number off of the list and then let whoever has the number explain to the "powers that be" why they did not file an Income Tax return?
Oh, and just from grins, I suppose they would not have to cross that number off the list unless they were . . . What? over 100 years old?
Sure, it might create some problems for a few 105 year old folks . . . but probably not 6.5 million of them!
That's the kind of thinking that could find a solution but this one might be a little too simple. There are a lot of old folks who aren't required to file an income tax return.
I understand there are a lot that are not required to file. For example those "under age".
That is why I suggest they only look at those over 100 years old. I don't know how many over the age of 100 do not need to file a return - but, I suspect it is not very many. [;)]
That is why I suggest they only look at those over 100 years old. I don't know how many over the age of 100 do not need to file a return - but, I suspect it is not very many. [;)]
They've actually been doing that for years. Google "Social Security Centenarian Project".
This is just more Washington howling over something that really isn't a problem while actual Social Security problems like the Disability Trust fund going bankrupt, the appeals/claims backlog, and a wave of immigrant claims that are about to hit when Obama issues them all SSNs are completely ignored.