Q: Is it true the rumor that all Social Security beneficiaries will have to go to a location to verify their identity to receive their monthly check?
A: The Social Security Administration had announced new policies on identity verification that would have required those applying for retirement and survivor benefits for the first time to verify their identity either online or in person at a field office. Phone verification wasn’t going to be an option any longer. However, the SSA canceled at least part of that policy days before it was to take effect.
Full Answer
Update, April 11: Multiple news organizations have reported that the Social Security Administration has canceled its plan to end identity verification over the phone for those applying for retirement and survivor benefits. The policy was supposed to take effect on April 14. We changed the short answer of this story accordingly. The news reports attribute the information to agency officials, an internal memo or a White House spokesperson.
As of April 11, the SSA hasn’t updated its website, which still contains the information we reported below. However, an April 9 post on X by the agency says, “Users of our phone service will only have to come in-person if they are flagged by our anti-fraud system.” There have been conflicting news reports on whether those who want to make changes to their direct deposit information can still do so over the phone. We will further update this story once we have more information from the SSA.
Changes at the Social Security Administration in how and when people verify their identity have prompted questions from several readers who have asked us if they need to do anything to keep receiving their monthly benefits.
As we said in the short answer, if you already get benefits and don’t need to change your direct deposit, you don’t need to verify your identity at all. But new beneficiaries who are applying for retirement or survivor benefits for the first time, or those setting up or changing direct deposit information for any type of benefits, will need to either verify their identity online through a “my Social Security” account or schedule an appointment to go to a field office to do so in person — starting April 14. The change eliminates identity verification services over the phone for those beneficiaries.
The SSA announced those details on March 26, saying these changes would “further safeguard Social Security records and benefits for millions of Americans against fraudulent activity.”
The agency backed off an earlier plan announced in March to also require people applying for non-retirement benefits — Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare or Supplemental Security Income — to verify their identity either online or in person only. SSA announced that those applicants “can complete their claim entirely over the telephone without the need to come into an office.”
Lee Dudek, the acting commissioner of SSA, said in the March 26 press release that those beneficiaries don’t have to verify their identity in person “because multiple opportunities exist during the decision process to verify a person’s identity,” saying that the updated policy was instituted because the agency “listened to our customers, Congress, advocates, and others.”
Also, the agency said it wouldn’t enforce the requirement for online or in-person only verification for people applying for retirement-program benefits if they are “in extreme dire-need situations, such as terminal cases or prisoner pre-release scenarios.” SSA is “developing a process that will require documentation and management approval” for such cases, it said.
Beneficiaries should be aware that there are reports that scammers have taken advantage of the procedural changes and have sent phishing emails asking beneficiaries to click on a link to verify their identity. Such emails or text messages are not coming from the SSA.
The concessions for the disabled and some other beneficiaries — and a two-week delay in enacting the plan overall — came after advocacy groups argued that the changes could disrupt benefits for those who couldn’t use the online system and would have trouble traveling to a field office because of mobility issues or long distances.
AARP called the delay “a good first step.” But Nancy LeaMond, executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer, said the agency needed “a deliberate approach” to customer service changes and “a reasonable timeframe” to implement them.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank, published a report on April 8 saying that the end of phone services for those applying for retirement and survivor benefits would still create hardships for millions of people. It determined that going to a field office would be “a 45-mile trip for some 6 million seniors nationwide” and noted that many people lack the technological tools or know-how to use the online verification system.
“Eliminating most applications by phone will close off an important mode of service for millions of people,” Kathleen Romig, CBPP’s director of Social Security and disability policy, wrote. “Some 5.2 million people began to receive Social Security retirement, survivors, and dependent benefits in 2023. More than 4 in 10 retirees apply for their Social Security benefits by phone, as do most spouses who are eligible for benefits.”
As we wrote in another story, some claims by Democrats about this and other changes at the SSA, including staffing reductions, could leave the wrong impression that Social Security benefits are being cut. That’s not the case, though experts are concerned that the changes could lead to delays or issues for those applying for benefits, particularly disability benefits, which already take a long time before approval.
Meanwhile, claims about widespread fraud in Social Security, such as claims by the Trump administration about payments fraudulently going to people over 100 years old, have been exaggerated.
The Washington Post Fact Checker also debunked a false claim by Vice President JD Vance, who claimed that “40 percent of the people who are calling [Social Security] are actually committing fraud.” The Post wrote that the SSA had instead said: “Approximately 40 percent of Social Security direct deposit fraud is associated with someone calling SSA to change direct deposit bank information.”
A February report from the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General on overpayments in the retirement and disability programs for fiscal 2020 to 2023 found that 3% of overpayments, or nearly $102 million a year on average, were due to fraud. The bulk of the overpayments, 72%, were due to “beneficiaries who did not report or timely report information to SSA that negatively affected their benefits,” the report said. Billions of overpayments are recovered by the agency each year.
Dudek also told reporters in March that the SSA “is losing over $100 million a year in direct deposit fraud.”
These fraud estimates are small compared with the $1.5 trillion Social Security paid in benefits in fiscal 2024.
In April, the SSA issued more than 68 million benefit payments, the vast majority through direct deposit. Only about 500,000 payments were made by check. An executive order from Trump calls for the elimination of paper checks throughout the federal government by Sept. 30.
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