Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has continued his campaign to aggressively undercut Social Security, leveling baseless and often misleading attacks on the insurance program.
During an event in Wisconsin on Sunday for a state judicial race, Mr. Musk, who has made inaccurate and unsupported claims about dead people and unauthorized immigrants receiving benefits and broad allegations of widespread fraud, took aim at phone calls to the Social Security Administration.
It is part of Mr. Musk’s broader bid to identify what he deems waste and abuse across the federal government, and the entitlement program has been in his cross hairs in recent weeks.
The cost-cutting initiative Mr. Musk leads, the Department of Government Efficiency, did not respond to requests for comment.
What Was Said
“One interesting statistic was that 40 percent of the calls into Social Security were fraudulent, meaning that it was someone trying to get a Social Security payment that was going to a senior instead to go to a fraud ring.”
— during a campaign event in Wisconsin on Sunday
This is misleading. Mr. Musk appears to have misunderstood a statistic from the Social Security Administration. The agency recently estimated that 40 percent of direct deposit fraud, one specific type of fraud, occurred via calls to the agency. That is not the same thing as 40 percent of all telephone calls being fraudulent.
The Social Security Administration handles 50 million to 60 million calls to its national 800 number and local field offices annually, either via an agent or through an automatic menu. People can call to request government forms, seek identification replacement or updates or check status of a claim, as well as obtain a host of general information like the address of the nearest Social Security office or the amount of a cost-of-living adjustment.
It is unclear what percentage of calls are requests for information or forms and what percentage are requests for services that directly affect benefits. But there is no evidence that 40 percent of answered calls, or 20 million to 24 million annually, fraudulently reroute benefits.
Last month, though, the Social Security Administration estimated that about 40 percent of direct deposit fraud for Social Security is associated with someone calling the agency to change bank information. The agency noted that verifying identification by answering security questions over the telephone was no longer enough to prevent fraud, and that beneficiaries would now need to visit an office in person or use two-factor authentication to change bank information.
The agency did not provide a total number of fraud cases in its post. But the Office of the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration, in a 2012 audit, said it had received about 19,000 reports of suspicious direct deposit changes over nearly a year. It interviewed 35 beneficiaries affected and found that for nine, or about a quarter, the changes occurred via the Social Security Administration’s automated 800 number. The inspector general’s report concluded that security controls were not adequate and recommended changes.
Last month, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration also estimated that total direct deposit fraud amounted to about $100 million annually, but did not provide a specific number of fraud cases.
For context, more than 99 percent of Social Security benefits are paid through direct deposit, and the agency paid out some $1.5 trillion in benefits last year. The roughly $40 million in direct deposit fraud via telephone, then, represents less than 0.003 percent of total benefits.
Linda Qiu is a reporter who specializes in fact-checking statements made by politicians and public figures. She has been reporting and fact-checking public figures for nearly a decade. More about Linda Qiu
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