Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General

A New York father and son are facing multiple fraud and ID theft charges in a Rochester area credit card scam. #SocialSecurity #Investigations Read more: https://ow.ly/ufYJ50VoSEm

A 50-year-old resident of Westport, Washington, pleaded guilty to Social Security fraud, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. The man admitted that he failed to tell the Social Security Administration that he was able to work and illegally collected $126,928 in benefits. Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo scheduled sentencing for June 9, 2025. Read more: https://ow.ly/Q3hm50VnZXF

U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen sentenced a Maine woman to 1 year of probation and ordered her to pay $90,674 in restitution. According to court records, the woman began receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in 2003. At that time, she was informed that she was required to report any changes in her household composition, income, or resources. In a 2012 eligibility review, she was reminded of her reporting responsibilities yet did not indicate that her husband was part of her household or that he contributed any income. Read more: https://ow.ly/2mlw50Vm6CT

A recent Office of the Inspector General (OIG) audit report found that Social Security Administration (SSA) employees did not properly process 57 percent of the Manager-to-Manager (M2M) requests randomly sampled. The audit report demonstrates SSA did not have adequate controls to address complex cases, ensure communications regarding critical issues, and prevent premature M2M closings. As a result, SSA has limited assurance that its employees properly processed the majority of the nearly 105,000 M2M requests made between June 2021 and June 2023. This resulted in delays in employees addressing critical issues and potentially thousands of beneficiaries waiting unnecessarily for weeks or months to receive the benefits they were due. Read our press release here: https://ow.ly/MIFS50Vo7sM

A Georgia man has been sentenced for stealing money intended as disability benefits from the Social Security Administration. Read more: https://ow.ly/N21A50VkQHP

A report issued February 28, 2025, found the risk of illegal, improper, and erroneous purchases made through the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) charge card programs is low. The assessment by SSA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is statutorily required by the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–194). SSA reported the Agency had approximately $33 million in purchase card spending and/or approximately $9 million in travel card and centrally billed account spending in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. The Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act requires SSA OIG to identify and analyze risks of illegal, improper, and erroneous use of purchase and travel cards when SSA has $10 million in annual purchases and/or $10 million in travel spending. For FYs 2013 to 2023, OIG determined the risk of illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases made through charge card programs was low. Because the Agency had not made significant changes to its controls since the 2023 assessment, SSA OIG determined the risk in FY 2024 remained low. Read our press release here: https://ow.ly/6Zie50VnZU8

SSA documented causes for issuing overpayments in its two payment programs. SSA OIG issued an informational report on Feb 20, 2025, that indicates that the largest cause to overpayments is beneficiaries' untimely reporting of information that affected their benefits. The report reviewed the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income overpayments in Fiscal Years 2020 through 2023. Read our press release here: https://ow.ly/OkPl50Vmbjs

A Brazilian national has been arrested for allegedly selling fraudulent #SocialSecurity cards and Legal Permanent Resident cards, often referred to as “Green Cards.” The man has been charged with one count of unlawful transfer of a document or authentication feature. Read more: https://ow.ly/plGm50VkQwy

The Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of the Inspector General auditors determined SSA Processing Center 8 accurately processed 33.7 percent of the sample cases reviewed. For the remaining 66.3 percent, Processing Center 8 staff did not always comply with SSA policies and the screening guide. Further, at least 12 of these cases had approximately $211,418 in improper payments. Processing Centers at SSA play a critical role in beneficiary service delivery and support other SSA personnel by providing direct customer service. It is essential Processing Centers accurately processed actions for beneficiaries under their jurisdiction. SSA has eight Processing Centers nationwide: Centers 1 through 6 process similar workloads and Centers 7 and 8 handle specialized workloads. Processing Center 8 processes Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance and Medicare claims from all claimants who reside outside of the United States. Processing Center 8 also processes totalization claims for those living in the United States with work history outside of the United States. Approximately 700,000 beneficiaries in current pay status resided in foreign countries and 244,000 were covered under totalization agreements. Read our press release here: https://ow.ly/vsgx50Vm6vM

A Massachusetts woman has been charged with scheming to fraudulently obtain #SocialSecurity benefits. The charging document alleges that from February 2006 through May 2021, the woman fraudulently obtained approximately $41,954.20 in benefits. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gPBeapgj