March 18, 2025
Currently, customers can make claims and verify their identity without using the internet.
An internal memo obtained by Popular Information details proposed plans by the Trump Aaministration that would sabotage the Social Security Administration (SSA). The detailed plans could cause chaos for claimants, including processing delays, and prevent people from applying.
The March 13 memo, signed by Acting Deputy SSA Commissioner Doris Diaz, proposes a series of changes to mitigate “fraud risks.” She suggests that people who make benefit claims over the phone should be subject to “internet identity proofing.” When a customer cannot utilize Internet ID proofing, “customers will be required to visit a field office to provide in-person identifying documentation.”
Currently, customers can make claims and verify their identity without using the Internet or visiting a Social Security Administration office in person. This process would hurt the most vulnerable population. Many Social Security claimants are elderly or disabled and lack access to digital resources. In her memo, Diaz acknowledges that requiring claimants to prove their identity online could cause “challenges for vulnerable populations.”
However, as Popular Information noted, SSA offices handled over 119,000 daily visits in 2023. With the proposed changes, these officers will be unable to handle the increase in visits, especially since SSA offices do not accept walk-ins. Appointment wait times were longer than a month, according to a 2024 report by the Office of the Attorney General.
The Department of Government Efficiency—the task force in charge of the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts run by billionaire Elon Musk—has listed dozens of SSA offices on its website for closure. Musk has received widespread criticism for making various false claims that Social Security fraud is widespread.
In a recent interview with Fox Business, Musk said that 10% of federal expenditures were related to Social Security fraud. Not so. A 2024 report from the SSA inspector general found that less than 1% of payment over a seven-year period were “improper,” Popular Information reports. Most of the improper payments, according to the report, were mistakes because the agency didn’t update its records.
RELATED CONTENT: Social Security Head Resigns Over DOGE Access To Recipient Information
