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The Treasury Department announced this week that it has recovered more than $31 million in fraud and improper payments to dead people in just five short months of accessing the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) federal death database.
The Ministry of Finance issues billions of payments each year, including benefit payments, federally funded government payments, and other miscellaneous payments. Accidentally sending those and other funds to dead people has long been a problem within the federal government, according to fiscal watchdog group OpenTheBooks..
In 2020, the Government Accountability Office estimated that during the first round of COVID-19 stimulus checks, $1.4 billion was sent to dead people. In all three rounds of stimulus checks during the pandemic, nearly $3.6 billion went to the dead, according to OpenTheBooks.
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The SSA is the only government agency with a database that records the deaths of US citizens. In 2023, as part of the summary law on approved funds, Congress granted access to the Ministry of Finance, on a temporary basis, to have access to a database to prevent improper payments to dead persons. The temporary basis expires in 2026.
A Social Security card sits next to checks from the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, DC, on Oct. 14, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“While this should have been a no-brainer for a long time, it’s promising to see a portion of taxpayer funds being offset by basic communication between executive agencies,” said John Hart, CEO of OpenTheBooks. “Too often the left hand simply doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, resulting in trillions of dollars in inappropriate payments.”
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Hart blamed nearly $4 billion in COVID-19 stimulus payments sent to dead people Tax Administration failure to check SSA death database.
He also noted that, in addition to improper payments through the incentive check program, the Small Business Administration also sent more than $3 billion more to dead people in the form of forgivable loans “to entities on the Treasury Department’s ‘Do Not Pay’ list.”
“Congressional approval of continued access to the Master Death File will significantly reduce fraud, improve the integrity of the program, and better protect taxpayer dollars,” said Assistant Secretary of State David Lebryk. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
“Today’s news is a step in the right direction, but there are many miles to go before we get coverage,” Hart said.
After news of the returned payments was announced, Assistant Secretary of State for Fiscal David Lebryk noted that the results were “just the tip of the iceberg.”
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“Congressional approval of continued access to the Full Death Master File will significantly reduce fraud, improve program integrity and better protect taxpayer dollars,” he said.
