Investigative Group

Nearly 4,000 People Marked Dead Still Took Social Security Checks

Shutterstock/Shutterstock

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Ethan Barton Editor in Chief
Font Size:

Social Security Administration (SSA) officials sent nearly $38 million in benefits to dead people, a government watchdog reported Friday.

Nearly 4,000 people the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) marked as dead received Social Security payments, the SSA’s inspector general (IG) reported. At least 11 percent of those were actually alive, while another 19 were confirmed as deceased. (RELATED: Feds Paid Dead People Millions In Social Security Benefits)

The VA provides death data to the SSA, which is in turn required to verify the deaths before terminating Social Security payments. SSA “stated that VA had not included most of the individuals’ death information in monthly death data transmitted to SSA,” the report said. (RELATED: Social Security Administration Sends $165 Million To DEAD People)

The IG estimated that the SSA paid 746 beneficiaries after they died and that the agency could pay another $7.3 million over the next year. The VA also erroneously marked living individuals as dead. (RELATED: DEAD Govt Workers Get $1.7 Million From Social Security)

“In seven instances, SSA records indicated that SSA employees had face-to-face contact with the beneficiaries after their dates of death in VA records,” the report said.

Additionally, the SSA previously sent $11.7 million to nearly 1,700 dead beneficiaries, the IG reported in 2006.

Follow Ethan on Twitter. Send tips to ethan@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.