Monday, March 23, 2015

Sunday Globe Special: Social Security Death Certificate

Better get up out of that grave then:

"Social Security’s records are showing their age; Gap in death files prompts warning" by Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press  March 15, 2015

WASHINGTON — Americans are getting older, but not this old. Social Security Administration records show that 6.5 million people in the United States have reached the age of 112.

In reality, only a few of them could possibly be alive. As of last fall, there were 42 people known to be that old in the entire world.

There are just 13 people receiving Social Security benefits at age 112 or older. The agency does not have death records for the millions of others on the list, so their Social Security numbers are still active, and could be used to report wages, open accounts, obtain credit cards, or claim tax refunds.

‘‘That is a real problem,’’ said US Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin. ‘‘When you have a fake Social Security number, that’s what allows you to fraudulently do all kinds things, claim things like the earned income tax credit or other tax benefits.’’

Johnson is chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which plans a hearing Monday on problems with death records kept by the Social Security Administration.

The oldest person on the list — born in 1869 — is still in the Social Security system because no death record is available, according to a report by the agency’s inspector general.

The Social Security Administration is working to improve the accuracy of its death records, but it would be costly and time-consuming to update 6.5 million files that were generated decades ago as paper documents, said Sean Brune, a senior aide to its deputy commissioner for budget, finance, quality and management.

‘‘The records in this review are extremely old, decades old, and unreliable,’’ Brune said.

They always have some goddamn excuse, don't they?

The internal watchdog’s report does not document any fraudulent or improper payments to people using these Social Security numbers. But it raises red flags that it could be happening.

I thought someone was hired to update those records.

For example, nearly 67,000 of the Social Security numbers were used to report more than $3 billion in wages, tips, and self-employment income from 2006 to 2011, according to the report. One Social Security number was used 613 times. An additional 194 numbers were used at least 50 times each.

People in the country illegally often use fake or stolen Social Security numbers to get jobs and report wages, as do other people who do not want to be found by the government. Thieves use stolen Social Security numbers to claim fraudulent tax refunds.

But to say so is considered racist and in bad taste.

The IRS estimated it paid out $5.8 billion in fraudulent tax refunds in 2013 because of identity theft.

Better put a hold on them then.

And these guys are in charge of the whole health penalty phase of Obummercare, huh?

The Justice Department’s tax division chief described how it’s done during a recent congressional hearing.

‘‘The plan is frighteningly simple — steal Social Security numbers, file tax returns showing a false refund claim, and then have the refunds electronically deposited or sent to an address where the offender can access the refund checks,’’ said Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline Ciraolo.

NSA can't track them down even though they are gobbling up all electronic communications, huh? 

Hmmmmmmmm.

The agency generates a list of dead people to help public agencies and private companies know when Social Security numbers are no longer valid for use.

The list is called the Death Master File, which includes the name, Social Security number, date of birth, and date of death for people who have died.

The list is widely used by employers, financial firms, credit reporting agencies, and security firms. Federal agencies and state and local governments rely on it to monitor benefit payments.

But none of the 6.5 million people cited by the inspector general’s report was on the master file. The audit analyzed records as of 2013, looking for people born before 1901.

Many of the people cited in the report never received benefits, though they were assigned Social Security numbers so spouses and children could receive them.

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Also seeBook tackles black art of deciphering Social Security

Mine has already been stolen by this government so why bother? 

I would like to know where all the money went, though.