Of these, about 3.9 million people are between the ages of 130 and 139, more than 3.5 million are between the ages of 140 and 149, and more than 1.3 million are between the ages of 150 and 159. Notably, the data also revealed that there is a US citizen “still alive” between the ages of 360 and 369.
The billionaire did not hesitate to express his opinion: “Maybe the vampire world is real, and they are receiving social security benefits.”
This information quickly attracted attention and raised doubts about the accuracy of the US Health and Human Services (SSA).
The chart Musk released shows that the number of beneficiaries in the SSA database far exceeds the total US population, with more than 60 million more records than actual people.
This means that millions of people who are dead, or may never have existed, are still receiving monthly benefits. As of 2024, there will be 68.5 million people receiving benefits from the SSA in various forms such as retirement, disability, and other payments.
There is no official information yet on how many of these payments may be fraudulent or due to errors in verifying people’s age and eligibility.
The US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said it was “investigating the matter.” Meanwhile, according to Musk’s figures, more than 4.7 million people between the ages of 100 and 109 continue to receive benefits from the SSA.
The story is made even more shocking when the data shows that at least one person recorded as being over 360 years old, and another individual in the system who is over 240 years old. Additionally, there are 1,039 people still listed in the SSA database with ages ranging from 220 to 229.
“Yes, there are more valid social security records than there are actual citizens in the United States. This may be the biggest fraud in history. There are people on this list who claim to be 150 years old. Do you know anyone who is 150? I don’t. If so, they should be in the Guinness Book of Records,” the Tesla boss wrote.
What do the experts say?
Although there is no official evidence to prove this claim, technology experts have come up with some plausible explanations.
Programmers point out that the 150-year-old number may not be a sign of fraud, but rather a strange systematic error in the SSA database.
The system is written in COBOL, a programming language that is more than 60 years old and still runs databases for the SSA and many other US government agencies.
Because COBOL does not support date data types, some systems have used date encoding based on a datum.
The most common date is May 20, 1875, when the International Conference on Standards in Paris was held.
When there is a lack of complete birth date information, the system automatically uses this reference point, resulting in profiles lacking an exact birth date showing an age of 150 in 2025. This is the explanation that many believed when the DOGE data was released.
Although the information has sparked a debate about the transparency of the US social security system, technology experts believe that this may be just a technical problem rather than a deliberate fraud.
Theo BBC
