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OIG Report: $1 Billion Paid by Social Security to Individual Representative Payees Who Do Not Have a Social Security Number (PDF)

20 pages. "SSA is required to obtain the SSNs of representative payee applicants. SSA uses the representative payee's SSN to [1] verify the payee's identifying information; [2] determine whether the payee applicant is receiving Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income; [3] determine whether the applicant is a convicted felon; and [4] determine whether the applicant previously served as a representative payee and has a history of poor payee performance or misuse.... [OIG estimates] that 22,426 beneficiaries had an individual representative payee who did not have an SSN, and SSA had not followed its policy to retain the paper application.... From April 2006 to September 2016, SSA paid these representative payees about $1 billion."

SSA OIG Semiannual Report to Congress, April 1-September 30, 2025 (PDF)

57 pages. "During this reporting period, OIG issued 31 audit reports, which included 9 reports that identified, in total, nearly $287 million in questioned costs and more than $819 million in funds put to better use.... During this reporting period, OIG's investigative efforts resulted in 332 indictments/criminal informations and 266 convictions and produced more than $194 million in monetary accomplishments, which includes court-ordered restitutions, recoveries, settlements, judgments, and estimated savings to SSA."

SSA OIG Report: Overpayments Assessed in Fiscal Years 2020 Through 2023 (PDF)

11 pages. "In Fiscal Years 2020 through 2023, SSA reported it issued approximately $32.8 billion in OASDI and SSI overpayments ... SSA attributed 72 percent of OASDI overpayments to beneficiaries who did not report or timely report information to SSA that negatively affected their benefits. SSA determined the remaining 28 percent occurred due to other reasons."

SSA OIG Report: Follow-Up on 2011 Audit of Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Benefits Affected by State and Local Pensions (PDF)

"In a 2011 audit, [OIG] estimated SSA overpaid approximately 24,900 beneficiaries about $623.8 million. These beneficiaries would receive approximately $869.9 million in additional overpayments over their lifetimes unless SSA corrected these payment errors.... [OIG] reviewed SSA's actions to implement the three recommendations in [the] 2011 audit and found that, although SSA made efforts, work still needs to be done. Two of the three recommendations involved systematic changes needed for SSA to effectively identify beneficiaries whose benefit must be adjusted because of WEP or GPO."

SSA OIG Audit Report: Excess Withholding of Government Pension Offset (PDF)

"Based on our random sample, we estimate that SSA improperly paid 1,013 beneficiaries approximately $12.4 million in spousal benefits and had not verified and updated pension or GPO amounts on the MBR for 5,768 spousal beneficiaries. We also estimate that SSA will improperly pay the 1,013 spousal beneficiaries about $2.5 million, annually unless it takes action to identify and correct these payments errors. Finally, 92 percent of the spousal beneficiaries with improper payments we identified were due underpayments SSA had not paid them."

Windfall Elimination Provision Exemptions (PDF)

"Of 150 sampled beneficiaries, SSA improperly exempted 26 from WEP.... Although the Agency was aware these 26 beneficiaries had received pensions, it did not reduce their benefits for WEP.... Based on our sample results, we estimate SSA improperly paid approximately 3,600 beneficiaries $118 million. Additionally, SSA exempted 28 beneficiaries from WEP where we found the exemptions questionable."