Has Elon Musk uncovered ‘biggest fraud in history’? Here’s the truth about his claims on social security benefits
Elon Musk has stirred a new controversy after he posted a chart on X purportedly showing that more than 20 million Americans aged 100 or older are living in the social security database.
Trump-Modi Meet
The mega MIGA, MAGA plans of India's Modi and US' Trump
Trump says India has more tariffs than others
Trump's 'golden rule' for imposing reciprocal tariffs
Musk quipped about «vampires» scamming benefits and suggested this could be “the biggest fraud in history'.
According to a FirstPost report, social security experts have contradicted Musk's assertions and clarified that the numbers do not represent living beneficiaries. They added that the numbers are rather outdated records that are a result of quirks from the database and its administration errors.
As per the report from the blunt inspector general in 2023, almost 19 million stayed registered in Social Security Administration's records as age-old persons. However, it was found that «almost none» were beneficiaries of payment.
Why Do SSA records show millions over 100?
The system, reportedly, has not been upgraded in decades and often fails to update the death records properly. Often the names appear alive when they have already died. This is because the agency uses COBOL, a programming language invented around half a century ago that does not have an inbuilt date type. The date format used for people who are missing their actual birth dates is defaulted to the reference date of 20 May 1875, which makes those individuals appear more older than they are.
Artif
