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The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has initiated a significant records cleanup at the Social Security Administration (SSA).

The agency has been reviewing and updating its records to remove outdated or inaccurate information regarding Social Security number holders.

“For the past two weeks, @SocialSecurity has begun a major records cleanup. Approximately 3.2 million numberholders, all listed age 120+, have now been marked as deceased. More work still to be done,” DOGE announced on X early Tuesday.

Concerns About Social Security Fraud

DOGE has been overseeing federal spending cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration.

Elon Musk raised concerns in February that millions of people above the age of 100 could still be collecting Social Security benefits. This prompted a deeper examination of SSA records.

However, the SSA has clarified that the reported figures have been misinterpreted. Many of these individuals are not receiving benefits but simply “do not have a date of death associated with their record.”

The SSA’s official data indicates that out of 67 million Social Security recipients, only about 53,000—or approximately 0.1 percent—are centenarians.

If most of the payments are fraud that would be roughly $80 million dollars in potential savings.

The Scope of the Cleanup

According to DOGE, over the past two weeks, more than 3.2 million individuals aged 120 and older have been removed from SSA records. However, 9.5 million Social Security numbers belonging to individuals over 120 remain in the system.

Musk initially drew attention to these inconsistencies in February by sharing a spreadsheet showing “the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE!”

He humorously remarked, “Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security.”

SSA’s Response and Policy on Age Limits

The SSA has addressed these concerns, explaining in a March 5 statement: “The data reported in the media represent people who do not have a date of death associated with their record. While these people may not be receiving benefits, the agency needs to maintain accurate and complete records.”

The SSA has a longstanding policy of automatically stopping benefit payments for anyone recorded as aged 115 and older.

A previous SSA review in March 2015 found that approximately 6.5 million individuals over the age of 112 were likely deceased but had not been marked as such in the system. This outdated data has contributed to ongoing concerns about fraud and inefficiencies in Social Security administration.

Social Security Payments Errors

A July 2024 report from the Social Security Inspector General found that between fiscal years 2015 and 2022, the SSA distributed nearly $8.6 trillion in benefits. Of this amount, approximately $71.8 billion—less than 1 percent—was classified as improper payments. The majority of these were overpayments to living recipients, which are generally required to be repaid.

Writing on X on February 24, Musk expressed optimism about the cleanup’s potential benefits: “We are increasingly optimistic that, as the immense waste & fraud are eliminated from Social Security & Medical that there is potential to increase actual dollars received by citizens & better healthcare!”

https://usaherald.com/jfk-assassination-trump-releases-80000-sealed-documents/

Government Databases Antiquated

While the cleanup has raised questions about Social Security fraud, some experts caution against jumping to conclusions.

Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek: “Social Security fraud certainly exists, but the claims it's rampant because a database had many recipients who were supposedly aged at well over 100 years old isn't evidence it's widespread. More than anything, the findings should alert the new administration to how antiquated many of the databases of government agencies are that normally produce errors such as these.”

DOGE has stated that updates to SSA records are ongoing, and more Social Security numbers will likely be marked as deceased in the coming weeks or months.

This cleanup effort is part of a broader push to improve government efficiency and reduce potential fraud in public benefit programs.

For further details, you can read the original reports here:

https://doge.gov/savings

https://www.ssa.gov/