Recent stories reported by a Staten Island, New York newspaper SILIVE, show how serious a matter of Social Security disability fraud is. Three former New York City police officers were charged with fraud and could be facing lengthy prison sentences, if convicted, for collecting Social Security disability payments while they were working and earning substantial income that went unreported.
These were not petty cases, they involved collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in disability pay from Social Security over several years, but at the same time these individuals were allegedly earning up to well over $1 million during the same period from work-related activities.
These cases are rather unique. Social Security has previously reported that fraud exists in less than 1 percent of all disability cases, despite the fact that disability opponents would like to believe the opposite. Nevertheless, these individuals and others who are accused of fraud are collecting disability payments that were never intended for someone who could maintain fulltime work. In these cases the fraud was deliberate, but there are other cases where someone who is collecting disability payments may work and earn too much money, and also be in violation of the agency’s rules without their knowledge.
Social Security is supposed to check in on disability beneficiaries after a certain amount of time after they have been found disabled. This is typically called a Continuing Disability Review (CDR). These are done to ensure the person receiving benefits continues to be disabled. Social Security will also look into whether the beneficiary is working and how much they may be earning from work-related activities. The bottom line is if you are receiving disability payments and you work, whether the income is taxed or not, you must report it to Social Security. The consequences could be significant if you don’t.
