Senator Urges Action Against Social Security Fraud
WASHINGTON — There seems to be a serious oversight happening.
A Republican senator, well-known for addressing wasteful spending, has emphasized the need for the Social Security Administration (SSA) to improve its efforts to prevent benefit checks from going to deceased individuals. There’s also a call for Congress to enhance measures to protect taxpayer money from fraud.
In a letter sent to SSA Secretary Frank Bisignano, Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) stated, “The era of the Social Security fraudster’s time must come to an end.”
She urged the administration to intensify its efforts in stopping checks from being sent to those who have passed away.
The SSA is currently scrutinizing past payments made to deceased individuals, which had previously gone unnoticed. An investigation by a watchdog has revealed that over $186 million in payments were improperly issued to those no longer alive.
Ernst highlighted the importance of the SSA being proactive in preventing such fraud, rather than only addressing it long after the fact.
She provided examples of how these ongoing issues manifest, noting that checks were often still being received by relatives of the deceased.
For instance, there’s the case of Canadian national Ellis Kingsep, who allegedly cashed about $420,000 worth of checks intended for his mother from 1995 until 2023, a time when he would have been 103 years old. Authorities found him with a book on how to forge IDs and copies of his mother’s signature.
Another case involves California resident Donald Felix Zampak, who is believed to have hidden his mother’s death for 30 years while stealing over $800,000 meant for her.
Recently, Josephine Ginauri Aquino from San Diego pleaded guilty in a case involving her father-in-law’s death, for which she forged at least 150 bank checks netting over $175,000.
Furthermore, there’s Afshin Setoude, who continued to take benefits after her mother left the country and passed away. She pocketed roughly $55,000 throughout this period.
It’s difficult to fully gauge the extent of Social Security fraud, but a recent SSA study indicated that at least $186 million in misguided payments went to “recipients who may not have used the funds for their needs.”
The study unfolded from 14,877 abuse complaints filed over the years, discovering that the SSA had inadequately and slowly investigated a significant number of these cases.
Addressing payment fraud has been a priority for former Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk, who previously claimed his team found evidence of tens of millions of cases related to deceased individuals still marked as alive in the system. He may have overstated his findings, but a recent oversight report highlighted about $71.8 billion deemed “inappropriate” in payments from a much larger total disbursed.
Ernst, leading the Senate DOGE caucus, addressed the need for transparency, stating, “Most Americans would not want this story to remain fictional and millions of taxpayer dollars paid to real ghosts. We have to stop paying the dead.”
Although she plans to retire after her term ends in early 2027, Ernst previously supported legislation aimed at reducing improper payments to deceased individuals, which has been in effect since 2020. She is also a co-sponsor of a bill that would mandate the SSA share death records with the Treasury Department.
In 2023, Congress allowed the Treasury Department access to the SSA’s detailed death records, saving about $31 million from fraud and improper payments, as stated by the Biden administration.
Additionally, recent reports disclosed that over $94 million was incorrectly spent on Obamacare payments to households of deceased individuals, with various fraudsters utilizing the social security numbers and names of the deceased to acquire benefits.
The SSA has yet to respond to requests for comment.
