Elon Musk's Social Security Warning After US Treasury's Payment System Takeover Alarming for Beneficiaries

Earlier this month, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to the federal payments system responsible for paying Social Security benefits.

The federal payment system is a powerful tool for tracking and controlling government spending. Access to the tool could allow the Trump Administration to restrict the disbursement of money to federal programs.

Over 70 million Americans receive Social Security benefits every month. Millions of retirees and disabled people rely on Social Security payments to get by.

Musk, who President Donald Trump has tasked with streamlining government processes and trimming spending, said widespread fraud is occurring in the payment of "federal entitlements," including Social Security.

Musk Claims Billions Paid To Individuals With No Social Security Number

On 11th February, Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he is "100% certain that the magnitude of the fraud in federal entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Disability, etc) exceeds the combined sum of every private scam you've ever heard by FAR. It's not even close."

These allegations of fraud follow an 8th February X post where Musk shared that he "was told that there are currently over $100B/year of entitlements payments to individuals with no SSN or even a temporary ID number. If accurate, this is extremely suspicious."

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has stated that individuals require an SSN to "work, collect Social Security benefits, and receive certain government services."

"When I asked if anyone at Treasury had a rough guess for what percentage of that number is unequivocal and obvious fraud, the consensus in the room was about half, so $50B/year or $1B/week!! This is utterly insane and must be addressed immediately." the billionaire added.

Musk also detailed in the post the mechanism agreed upon between DOGE and the Treasury Department for making future payments, such as introducing categorisation codes.

DOGE's Ability To Intervene In SSA Payments Is Limited

Musk's comments have drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers and Social Security advocacy groups. Last week, Congress members and SSA beneficiaries also staged a rally outside the SSA offices in Washington, DC, after reports emerged that DOGE is planning to work with the SSA.

Former SSA Commissioner Martin O'Malley said at a rally outside SSA offices in Washington: "This is not about efficiency. This is about two things. This is about stealing the personal data of Americans. And it is about taking a lifetime of earned benefits, your Social Security benefits, and turning it into a Bitcoin bank!"

However, DOGE's capability to curb the supposed fraud in the Social Security program is limited. New York Judge Paul A. Engelmayer placed a preliminary injunction to prevent Musk's DOGE from accessing the personal financial data of Americans stored in Treasury Department records. Musk described the move as "absolutely insane." The injunction will hold until the next court hearing on Valentine's Day.