Identity thieves used the Social Security numbers of hundreds of dead individuals to earn nearly $30 million, according to a federal watchdog.
The Social Security Administration’s inspector general found over $200 million in questionable earnings over a five-year period that were earned using SSNs of people at least 85 years old or individuals who are deceased.
“Although SSA had controls in place to prevent and detect SSN misuse, we found individuals were using elderly individuals’ identities for work purposes,” the audit released Tuesday said. “Our review of a sample of 126 elderly individuals showed that 37 of their identities had been used to earn about $4.6 million during Tax Years (TY) 2009 to 2014.”
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