Social Security Drops Controversial Anti-Fraud Review Amid Growing Claims Backlog | News Channel 3-12

Social Security drops controversial anti-fraud review amid growing claims backlog | News Channel 3-12

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — A month after instituting a controversial anti-fraud policy that sparked widespread concern among senior citizens, the Social Security Administration has quietly dropped a key piece of the measure. The agency will no longer hold retirement benefit applications for three days to check for fraud, according to an email sent to workers and reviewed by CNN. The decision comes as the backlog in retirement benefit claims has …

Trump-Musk Social Security fraud hunt yields chaos, not criminals

An internal document reveals that the Trump administration’s crackdown on supposed fraud in Social Security phone claims has identified just two questionable cases out of more than 110,000—prompting bipartisan outrage and warnings of a politically motivated attack on the program.

Social benefits such as minimum security are intended to help people in need. However, there is always fraud, for example when false information is provided to obtain benefits. In 2024, the number of cases of fraud has increased again, and more than half of the cases were in Vienna.