The Social Security Administration has made a major update to millions of Americans' records in an attempt to prevent fraud and improper government payments. The SSA announced Tuesday that it had corrected tens of millions of files in its Social Security Number database, describing the effort as the most comprehensive cleanup in the agency's 91-year history. The database’s accuracy is essential to maintaining integrity of government services for citizens.
Accurate SSN records prevent fraud across federal programs and support the proper administration of benefits,” said Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano in a statement. Social Security numbers aren't used only to administer retirement and disability benefits; federal agencies and states also use them to validate people's identities and prevent improper payments of taxpayer money.
That means incorrect information in the database, such as a missing death date, can have major implications beyond Social Security itself. The newly announced SSA changes included adding 17 million dates of death to records that had been missing them and updating approximately 25 million records that lacked citizenship information. SSA is also working to correct another 8.5 million records containing inaccurate citizenship information.
The agency said it has also put stronger internal controls in place to prevent inaccuracies caused by manual data entry. A 2024 report from SSA's Office of Inspector General found that the agency paid nearly $8.6 trillion in benefits between fiscal years 2015 and 2022, of which approximately $71.8 billion, or 0.84 percent, were improper payments. Improper payments can include both overpayments and underpayments and are not necessarily caused by criminal fraud.
They often just occur when beneficiaries fail to report necessary information or when the SSA does not update its records in a timely manner. Actual fraud cases are also a problem, though. During the six months from October 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026, the SSA Office of Inspector General reported 232 indictments or criminal informations and 228 convictions from its investigative work.
The inspector general's Cooperative Disability Investigations program, which focuses on potentially fraudulent disability claims, has generated an estimated $8.5 billion in taxpayer savings since the program began. This information is supposed to be shared with federal agencies to keep their records updated,” Thompson said. However, I don't believe this represents a material issue in the broader Social Security system.” In September, the SSA inspector general estimated that the agency had improperly paid approximately $1 billion to 333,800 Supplemental Security Income recipients because their earnings had not been properly reviewed or recorded.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
