About $33 million in Social Security benefit payments were issued to dead people in New York state, the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) Office of Inspector General (OIG) said in a Sept. 16 memorandum.
In its analysis, the OIG reviewed data on roughly 1.5 million individuals recorded as deceased between January 2008 and December 2023 in New York state, excluding New York City. That information was then compared with the SSA’s payment records and the Enumeration Verification System.
OIG identified 829 dead beneficiaries from the New York state data who were in “current or suspended payment status” as of July 2025, according to the memo.
“We estimate SSA issued these beneficiaries approximately $33 million in payments after their deaths,” the OIG said in the memo. “Identifying and correcting these discrepancies would prevent approximately $8 million in additional payments after death over 12 months.”…