Database Lists 12 Million People Older Than 120 as Eligible for Social Security: Musk

A Social Security card sits alongside checks from the U.S. Treasury in Washington on Oct. 14, 2021. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

More than 12 million people in the Social Security Administration (SSA) database of eligible benefits recipients are listed as being older than 120, according to data shared by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, discovered the data while reviewing SSA records for potential waste or fraud.

“According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to false!” Musk wrote on social media platform X, which he owns, on Feb. 17, sharing a chart of the various age brackets.

The chart shows that there are more than 17 million centenarians who are marked as alive and eligible for benefits in the SSA system, of whom more than 12 million are allegedly older than 120.

More than 1,000 individuals are listed as being between the ages of 220 and 229.

Another person is purportedly in the 240 to 249 age bracket, and the oldest person in the system is listed as older than the United States itself at more than 360 years old.

The oldest living person in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is Tomiko Itooka, 116, of Japan.

“Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,” Musk wrote in jest.

SSA data also reflect that the number of eligible Social Security recipients in the system is more than 398 million, yet the Census Bureau estimates the national population to be roughly 341 million.

When another user pointed out the impossibility of the data, Musk confirmed that “there are far more ‘eligible’ social security numbers than there are citizens” in the United States.

“This might be the biggest fraud in history,” he said.

The SSA did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

DOGE is delving into federal agencies’ records and systems as part of its mission to enhance government efficiency by cutting costs and rooting out institutional waste.

President Donald Trump established the temporary organization within the U.S. DOGE Service, formerly named the U.S. Digital Service, on his first day in office.

He gave Musk’s team until July 4, 2026, to achieve its goal of $2 trillion in federal spending cuts before the organization is dissolved.

The White House says total DOGE cuts have topped $3.4 billion so far.

They include more than $1 billion in axed diversity, equity, and inclusion contracts and grants; $881 million in canceled Department of Education contracts; and $59 million clawed back from New York City in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds for housing illegal immigrants.

The White House has also turned to personnel cuts as a source of savings and increased efficiency.

Some 75,000 federal workers accepted the administration’s buyout offer by the Feb. 12 deadline, allowing them to continue collecting full pay and benefits through Sept. 30 as they seek alternative employment.

Mass layoffs have begun to sweep federal agencies.

An executive order that the president signed on Feb. 11 directed all agency heads to prepare for “large-scale reductions in force,” prioritizing temporary employees and those who perform functions not mandated by law.

“By eliminating waste, bloat, and insularity, my administration will empower American families, workers, taxpayers, and our system of government itself,” the order reads.

Mark Tapscott and Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.