Trumps IRS chief reveals scrub of Social Security database found 10% of recipients erroneously listed

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s IRS chief revealed that a scrub of the Social Security number database has found 10% of recipients were erroneously listed — and that some fraudsters bilking taxpayers for the benefits have since been referred to the DOJ for investigation.IRS Commissioner Frank Bisignano told Steve Bannon on his “War Room” show that the payments amounted to as much as $30 million, though not all that money went out the door.“We found over a 10% error rate,” Bisignano said.“They had a live Social Security number that could be used for fraud, waste and abuse.”“They weren’t necessarily even collecting Social Security benefits, but they had a live Social Security [number] that was being used for other purposes throughout the government,” he added.“Under Commissioner Bisignano’s leadership, SSA for the first time is reconciling our books and records, making sure the Social Security Number Database (Numident) is the most accurate count, in real-time, as possible,” a senior official close to SSA and IRS operations told The Post.“This intakes data from births, from the Death Master File, from DHS [Department of Homeland Security] on non-citizens, and other sources, makes our payments more accurate and avoids fraud and other improper payments.

With these controls, we’ve prevented $150 million in fraudulent losses since just last year.”The work of reconciling the database is a large part of why the Treasury Department was able to halt nearly $100 million from going to deceased payees since March 2025.That hadn’t been done since 1935, according to Bisignano, who claimed that the federal government has “been paying out money erroneously for a long time” to recipients — all of whom will now face probes by Treasury, or the Department of Justice when criminal charges are warranted.“Any teeth we had we brought to the system,” he told Bannon.“We have cases completely being investigated right now as we speak.”In the ...