Approximately 12.3 million people over the age of 120 have been “marked as deceased.”
The government’s Ministry of Efficiency (DOGE) said in a statement Thursday that staff have completed a “massive cleanup” of Social Security records after it was discovered that more than 12 million people over the age of 120 are in the system.
However, “there are some complicated cases remaining on the file, including two or more different dates of birth,” and “will be investigated in follow-up efforts.”
Doge also provided some of the screenshots showing that there are around 3.3 million people aged 120-129, 3.9 million people aged 130-139, 3.3 million people listed as 140-149, 150-159, 124,000 people listed as 160-169, all of whom are marked in the Social Security System.
“The amount of non-living people who didn’t appear in the system was unsolved. Millions of people. That’s the source of potential fraud,” he told the news outlet, adding that the work he did at the agency is “100% accurate.”
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That’s because, according to Bisignano, an aggressive Social Security number “still alive in the system” presents “opportunities for fraud.”
Founded in January by President Donald Trump, Doge is tasked with finding out what officials say is fraud, waste, and abuse. But the efforts have been blocked by several trials, namely the Social Security Agency.
In March, Maryland-based US district judge Ellen Lipton Hollander determined Doge had no access to the Social Security system. As such moves could violate federal privacy laws, they argue that the task force’s mission to eradicate fraud, waste and abuse is a “fishing effort.” She also instructed the Doge team to delete any personally identifiable data they may own.
“The Doge team is essentially engaged in fishing expeditions at SSA. It is based solely on suspicion in search of a scam trend. We have begun searching for a needle in Haystack.
A month later, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a ruling in favour of Hollander’s order, urging the Trump administration to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.
“When a district court attempts to transform into the administrative department’s HR department, the irreparable harm to the government is clear,” he wrote.
The task force is effectively led by Trump’s senior adviser and special civil servant, high-tech billionaire Elon Musk. That is, he has 130 days to complete the job. Musk said last month in a Tesla revenue call that he would retreat from government duties in May and focus on the company.
