Billionaire Elon Musk has said there is widespread fraud taking place in the payment of "federal entitlements" like Social Security. Social Security benefits are paid to more than 70 million Americans on a monthly basis, and help form the bedrock of income for many retirees, survivors of deceased claimants and disabled people.

Musk first made the claims that benefits are being claimed by people who appear to have died long ago while speaking from the Oval Office with President Trump last week. He said that DOGE has performed a "cursory examination of Social Security, and we got people in there that are 150 years old."

Elon Musk indicated that a Social Security database lists millions of centenarians "with the death field set to FALSE."

The Trump administration claimed the Social Security Administration gives payments to dead people. SSA audits revealed it happens less than suspected.