Don’t freak out over that headline. The changes I am talking about are good news for everyone who is currently collecting or plans to collect social security in the future.
On Tuesday (updated Wednesday) The Epoch Times reported:
President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on April 15 directing several federal agencies to take measures to prevent Social Security payments from going to ineligible people such as illegal immigrants and fraudsters.
The memorandum was directed at the Social Security Administration inspector general, the Social Security commissioner, the attorney general, and the secretaries of labor, health and human services, and homeland security.
Meanwhile, the commissioner is directed to cooperate with the attorney general to expand the SSA’s full-time fraud prosecutor program specifically targeting identity theft and beneficiary-side fraud to at least 50 U.S. Attorney Offices by Oct. 1.
The memo also “establishes a Medicare and Medicaid fraud prosecution program in 15 U.S. Attorney offices,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing.
Department heads are ordered to prioritize the placement of prosecutors in both programs to the offices whose jurisdiction has been determined by Homeland Security to cover the top 10 largest known populations of illegal immigrants.
The memo also directs the inspector general of the Social Security Administration (SSA) to investigate earnings reports for individuals over the age of 100. Earlier this year the Department of Government Efficiency reported that hundreds of eligible Social Security recipients were found to be well over a century old.
In another article posted Tuesday (updated Wednesday), The Epoch Times reported another change to Social Security:
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has rolled out “enhanced technology” to detect suspicious activity in telephone claims or banking changes. The new technology will strengthen identification verification, preventing fraud.
The SSA had initially planned to roll out new identity proofing policies in March, but pushback from beneficiaries and advocates delayed it. The policies have gone through two changes so far. So, what are these ID proofing policy changes, and how will they affect you?
The second article concludes:
Social Security benefits are often a target of thieves. And diverting benefits from a recipient’s account to a fraudulent one has been going on for many years.
The SSA is making an effort to stop the fraud by modernizing its phone system with enhanced technology. Using the new technology allows the agency to identify anomalies in the claimant’s account.
In addition, the use of the AVS will not only prevent fraudulent banking changes but also expedite processing. Overall, Social Security beneficiaries and new claimants will still have the convenience of phoning while still preventing fraud.
As someone who is married to a person in Information Technology (IT), I am suspicious of any change to a computer program. There are almost always glitches. I am hoping that the new fraud detection protocols have been thoroughly tested. If these new protocols are successful in eliminating the majority of fraud in the Social Security program, they will extend the lifespan of the program for years.