Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is facing a new round of questioning after a failed fraud crackdown created even more chaos at the Social Security Administration — and found little to no fraud.
Already reeling from office closures, staff shortages and service cuts, the struggling agency is now reportedly being slowed down even further by an anti-fraud tool that barely caught any fraud while dramatically slowing down the system.
As senior correspondent Eric Katz reported Thursday for Government Executive: “DOGE said 40% of phone calls into Social Security centers were fraud, so it built a tool to track it. Turns out the 40% was actually 0.0018% and the tool slowed down processing significantly.”
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According to internal documents obtained by journalist Natalie Alms surrounding the new anti-fraud checks on phone claims, “only 2 claims out of over 110,000 were found to likely be fraudulent,” she wrote on X.
“The policy has slowed down payments, though. Retirement claim processing is down 25%,” Alms added.
The new reporting comes as the SSA has struggled internally for months amid DOGE-led cuts.
DOGE said 40% of phone calls into Social Security centers were fraud, so it built a tool to track it. Turns out the 40% was actually 0.0018% and the tool slowed down processing significantly. https://t.co/HeRfgz2FnB
— Eric Katz (@EricM_Katz) May 15, 2025
