Scams targeting Social Security and the private information of millions of Americans began to increase in 2018 and have continued to this day. A recent report from Social Security’s Office of Inspector General show just how much these scams are costing the American taxpayer and how it has crippled the agency’s ability to conduct business and assist Americans seeking help with Social Security matters.
This OIG report indicates that staff at the agency’s toll-free line received more than 850,000 scam related calls in fiscal year 2019 and SSA staff reported about 65,000 scam allegations to the OIG during the same period, a 1,000 percent increase from the previous year.
This might not worry the average American who has not been the target of one of these scams, but it should. The time and effort Social Security employees are spending on advising and reporting these scam cases is limiting Social Security’s ability to conduct the day-to-day business Americans need. An excerpt from the OIG’s report below shows just how damaging these scam attempts are.
Time spent responding to scam-related inquiries and making fraud referrals deflected staff from completing their normal workloads. SSA estimated it spent over 100 workyears in FY 2019 on these and other scam-related activities at a cost of $8.4 million. Per SSA, it takes 100 workyears to process 6,000 initial disability claims, 43,000 retirement claims, or 270,000 Social Security number card requests.
If Social Security employees are not allowed to do the jobs they were expected to do it means that further delays will occur on filing disability applications, appropriately correcting information that will allow for benefits to be paid and processing other requests that American customers need. This is not just a problem for people who are the targets of scams, it is a problem for us all.
