WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced that it had charged 17 individuals accused of stealing over $1.3 million in Social Security benefits.
“The Social Security Administration’s benefits programs are meant to safeguard America’s elderly and most vulnerable — not to bankroll fraudsters,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said in a statement.
One of the people convicted is a woman from Chicago who was convicted of keeping her dead mother’s body in a freezer, according to the New York Post. She allegedly collected her dead mother’s retirement benefits.
“Every dollar stolen is a dollar taken from a retiree’s medicine, meals, or housing,” McDonald stated. “These cases represent just a fraction of the fraud we are aggressively pursuing every day. The egregious facts uncovered in these cases underscore why our mission to combat fraud —large or small — is vital to protecting public trust and ensuring justice.”
Social Security Administrator commissioner Frank Bisignano said that this was a result of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s work to stop fraud in the U.S. government.
“Social Security, we are putting that mandate into action,” he said, according to the Post. “Working hand-in-hand with the Department of Justice, we are aggressively pursuing fraud, safeguarding taxpayer dollars, and protecting Social Security.”
This report comes one week after the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud removed 750,000 Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange enrollments that Vance said are suspected of being fraudulent, unauthorized, or ineligible.