A DBUNK subscriber submitted a request asking whether deceased individuals were still receiving Social Security benefits. We investigated claims about “millions and millions” of deceased individuals fraudulently collecting payments and what the real numbers show.
Misleading Claim: Tens of Millions of Deceased People Are Receiving Social Security
The article from The Associated Press was written in response to public statements made by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk. Both claimed that “millions and millions” of people, including those older than 100, 200, and even 300 years old, were improperly collecting benefits. Musk referred to it as a “HUGE problem.”
The reality is that while Social Security fraud does exist, the claim that “tens of millions” of deceased people are receiving Social Security checks is an exaggeration that distorts the actual issue.
What Social Security Data Shows
The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) inspector general reported that $71.8 billion in improper payments were made from 2015 to 2022, but most of these payments went to living individuals who were mistakenly overpaid.
Social Security does maintain records of 18.9 million Social Security numbers assigned to individuals born in 1920 or earlier that are not marked as deceased. However, this does not mean they are receiving payments. Due to outdated software, some records list incorrect or incomplete birthdates, showing individuals as potentially hundreds of years old when they are not.
How Many Payments to Deceased People Have Been Made?
Fraud involving Social Security payments to deceased individuals does happen, but in much lower numbers than what is being claimed:
- In January 2025, the U.S. Treasury recovered $31 million in improper federal payments to deceased people across multiple federal programs.
- The SSA automatically stops payments to anyone older than 115 years old.
- The U.S. Treasury estimated recovering $215 million over a three-year period as they clean up outdated records.
These figures, though notable, are a fraction of Social Security’s total budget and far from the exaggerated claims of “millions and millions.”
The Bigger Picture: Misinformation and Public Perception
Experts caution that claims like those made by Trump and Musk can mislead the public into believing that fixing Social Security’s financial issues is as simple as stopping fraud. In reality, improper payments account for less than 1% of total Social Security spending, meaning larger structural changes would be necessary to address long-term solvency issues.
Chuck Blahous, a research strategist at George Mason University, says that while ensuring accountability is important, other government programs like Medicaid have significantly higher error rates that warrant greater attention.
Final Verdict: Misleading
The claim that “tens of millions” of dead people are receiving Social Security checks is false. While some improper payments have been made, the numbers cited by Trump and Musk exaggerate the scale of the issue and misrepresent available data.
Yes, small amounts of improper payments reach deceased individuals, but these are much lower than the claims suggest. The SSA and Treasury have systems in place to recover erroneous payments and update their records.
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