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By Aliss Higham
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Billionaire Elon Musk has said there is widespread fraud taking place in the payment of "federal entitlements" like Social Security.
Why It Matters
Social Security benefits are paid to more than 70 million Americans on a monthly basis, and help form the bedrock of income for many retirees, survivors of deceased claimants and disabled people.
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Musk, who was selected by President Donald Trump to head up the non-official Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been tasked with streamlining government processes and cutting spending. But critics have raised the alarm about an unelected official gaining access to the payment records and personal details of Americans.
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What to Know
Musk wrote on X on February 11: "At this point, I am 100% certain that the magnitude of the fraud in federal entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Disability, etc) exceeds the combined sum of every private scam you've ever heard by FAR. It's not even close."
It follows another post from February 8 in which Musk said he was told there are currently over $100 billion per year of entitlements payments to individuals with no Social Security Number or "even a temporary ID number."
According to the official Social Security Administration website: "You need an SSN [Social Security number] to work, collect Social Security benefits, and receive certain government services."
"If accurate, this is extremely suspicious," Musk said, as he explained several steps agreed between DOGE and the Treasury Department for making future payments, including the use of "a rationale for the payment in the comment field" and categorization codes.
He continued: "When I asked if anyone at Treasury had a rough guess for what percentage of that number is unequivocal and obvious fraud, the consensus in the room was about half, so $50B/year or $1B/week!! This is utterly insane and must be addressed immediately."
Musk also said in a separate post that "the social security database is not de-duplicated, meaning you can have the same SSN [Social Security number] many times over, which further enables MASSIVE FRAUD!!"
Newsweek has contacted the SSA for comment via email outside of regular working hours.
DOGE Involvement With SSA
Musk's recent moves on the SSA have been met with considerable criticism, particularly from Democratic lawmakers and Social Security advocacy groups. Several members of Congress, along with SSA beneficiaries and others staged a rally outside the SSA offices in Washington, D.C., following a February 6 report by Semafor outlining that DOGE is "currently preparing to work" with the SSA.
What People Are Saying
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told Newsweek: "Social Security beneficiaries and their families have every reason to be alarmed by Elon Musk's takeover of the U.S. Department of Treasury's payment system, which is responsible for paying Social Security benefits.
"Seniors, their families, and people with disabilities most certainly cannot trust Trump and Musk with their crucial federal benefits - or their personal data. We hope that the courts will halt this effort to hijack the Treasury Department's payment system for blatantly political purposes."
Martin O'Malley, former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, said at a rally outside SSA offices in Washington: "This is not about efficiency. This is about two things. This is about stealing the personal data of Americans. And it is about taking a lifetime of earned benefits, your Social Security benefits, and turning it into a bitcoin bank!"
Glenn Harlan Reynolds, professor of law at the University of Tennessee and founder of the InstaPundit.com blog, said in an opinion piece for the New York Post: "This is all very basic stuff necessary to safeguard our taxpayer dollars, yet up to now our federal government just hasn't bothered. Why not?"
What's Next
For now, DOGE's ability to do much about the supposed fraud taking place is limited, after New York Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued a preliminary injunction to stop Musk and DOGE from accessing the personal financial data of millions of Americans in Treasury Department records, something Musk described as "absolutely insane."
The conditions will remain in place until the next court hearing on February 14.
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