DOGE investigators uncovered something really suspicious in the Social Security database. More than 20 million people with active accounts despite being listed as over 100 years old. That doesn’t mean they’re collecting benefits, experts point out. Instead, it reveals a different form of abuse. Apparently, illegal aliens have been paying taxes into the system in exchange for the appearance of legitimacy. That really helps when you’re trying to find a job. Or run for political office. Some say Barack Obama is using one of the numbers on that list.
DOGE sniffs Social Security
Elon Musk thinks his DOGE team stumbled on to “the biggest fraud in history.”
It’s a significant inconsistency for sure but that’s probably an exaggeration. He’s bound to uncover much bigger frauds before he gets done. He broke the news on X, “late Sunday,” February 16.
Along with a graphic breaking down what DOGE found, Musk posted, “according to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE!”
The chart ranged from zero to 369 years old. “Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,” he added.
Another interesting discovery his number crunchers noticed, “there are FAR more ‘eligible‘ social security numbers than there are citizens in the USA.” According to the Inspector General tasked with watching over the Social Security Administration, that’s old news.
They did an audit released “in July 2023 showing that 18.9 million people listed as 100 years or older — but not dead — were in the database.” One of them should be Harrison Bounel. DOGE didn’t name names, they were only after metadata. That controversy should ripen soon.
Every number handed out
Over at the Census Bureau, they’ll be happy to tell you that there are only “86,000 people living in the U.S.” who were over a hundred at the time that audit came out. Obviously, DOGE was grazing through “Numident,” which “includes every number handed out since the benefits program started in 1936.”
Auditors quickly confirmed that “almost none” were actually “cashing Social Security checks.” Roughly “18.4 million uncovered in the 2023 audit had not received benefits or reported income for 50 years, meaning they were likely dead.”
They may have been dead but they kept on paying their Social Security taxes. A previous audit from 2015 showed that “about $3.1 billion in earnings reported by employers or self-employed individuals who were not the actual Social Security number holder.”
That’s where Harry Bounel comes in. DOGE won’t be looking into that but Congress might. Allegedly, Barack Obama has been reporting his earnings using Harry’s number.
Things could get interesting when Barack opens his mail and sees a letter from the SSA. “Dear Taxpayer: The Social Security number listed on your tax returns for the following years has been flagged by DOGE as an invalid number. Please provide a certified copy of your birth certificate to verify your identity…”
Over at the Cato Institute, Alex Nowrasteh notes, “by all means, clean up SSA and mark those people as deceased. But the cost of doing so is less revenue going into Social Security.” And more illegals loaded into planes for deportation. DOGE has already paid for itself in huge ways.
