Do you know anyone who has gotten caught abusing Social Security Disability?

[MsDisney23]

Looks like my friend is about to be caught. The person claims to be disabled and is working full time, etc. for some time now. SS has sent her a letter and wants this person to explain the income etc. Person was actually collecting a paycheck while on SSD.

I would not want to be this person in anyway. Not sure what they do (SSD) I would think the person would have to repay the money, along with fines, etc. I do not feel sorry for this person as they knew they were using the system.

 

[Pop Daddy]

I bet its you, anit it

 

[Sherri]

Looks like my friend is about to be caught. The person claims to be disabled and is working full time, etc. for some time now. SS has sent her a letter and wants this person to explain the income etc. Person was actually collecting a paycheck while on SSD.

I would not want to be this person in anyway. Not sure what they do (SSD) I would think the person would have to repay the money, along with fines, etc. I do not feel sorry for this person as they knew they were using the system.

I would imagine there would be a hearing and a stiff fine along with repayment if found guilty.

 

[MsDisney23]

I bet its you, anit it

 

[rabx5]

Well, if they know where she is working- they will garnish her paycheck for repayment.

I do know that on social security a person is allowed to work and earn up to a certain amount monthly-but I would think that wouldn't be the same for disability as they were getting a monthly check because they are unable to work.

She best watch herself- they might prosecute for fraud.

 

[ducklite]

I don't know the person, but the aunt of a friend was arrested for fraud for working under the table while collecting SSDI. She was waittressing and making some pretty serious cash--knowing the place she was working at, probably $500+ a week of all unreported income. She actually went to jail for a couple of months, then was on parole with weekly monitoring that included having the document all of her income, assets, and expenditures each week, had to pay all the money back, and was precluded from collecting any government benefits for any reason for a number of years.

Because she had been living well beyond her means and had to repay all the money, she was unable to and the government seized her home, sold it for pennies on the dollar at auction, and she still owed them money! They garnished her paycheck and seized her tax returns. She had been scamming for almost ten years before she was caught, and is still probably trying to pay it all back--as interest in accruing each year.

I knew someone who was working under the table doing odds and ends of secretarial work for a small company while she was collecting SSDI due to advanced cancer. She worked when she was feeling up to it. She wasn't caught, and died within a year of begining to work there with no estate to speak of. In all honesty she averaged 8-10 hours or less a week for 40 weeks, and at $7 an hour, it wouldn't really have been worth them persuing because you can work while collecting SSDI under certain circumstances--hers would have qualified--you just lose $1 in SSDI for every $2 made after and up to certain amounts. (I want to think you can earn $2500/year before it affects your benefits, but I'm not positive.) She might owe the Federal government $100. In all honesty because she had weeks on end that she didn't work, it's possible that she owes them nothing. I don't think it would be a prident use of taxpayers dollars to persue figuring it out and trying to collect.

Anne

 

[Patty3]

The Social Security dept has an Inspector General. Under him, there are special agents assigned to this dept all over the country. These agents will get leads about folks abusing the sytem. The agent assigned will have a case file and investigate. If a fraud was found to be comitted, they will take the case to an asst US attorney and see what they want done. Depending on the amount of money, they may or may not be arrested, but they will need to pay restitution.

 

[MsDisney23]

The Social Security dept has an Inspector General. Under him, there are special agents assigned to this dept all over the country. These agents will get leads about folks abusing the sytem. The agent assigned will have a case file and investigate. If a fraud was found to be comitted, they will take the case to an asst US attorney and see what they want done. Depending on the amount of money, they may or may not be arrested, but they will need to pay restitution.

The person collected about $30,000 from SS, while also collecting a paycheck. Also would they make her pay back any medical that SS also paid? All I know is that I would not want to be in her shoes.....

 

[JennyMominRI]

Looks like my friend is about to be caught. The person claims to be disabled and is working full time, etc. for some time now. SS has sent her a letter and wants this person to explain the income etc. Person was actually collecting a paycheck while on SSD.

I would not want to be this person in anyway. Not sure what they do (SSD) I would think the person would have to repay the money, along with fines, etc. I do not feel sorry for this person as they knew they were using the system.

You are allowed to earn a certain amount of money while on SSDI..It's not a lot but a few thousand...You can also continue to collect SSDI for 6 months when you go back to work if your disability improved..It's a grace period of sorts.
Not exactly related to what you posted but I want to make it clear that you will find some people working while on SSDI

 

[MsDisney23]

You are allowed to earn a certain amount of money while on SSDI..It's not a lot but a few thousand...You can also continue to collect SSDI for 6 months when you go back to work if your disability improved..It's a grace period of sorts.
Not exactly related to what you posted but I want to make it clear that you will find some people working while on SSDI

Jenny so true. However this person claims she reported her earnings, and then talked her boss into paying her under the table, etc. I feel if she had reported the earnings, they would not be ??? her now, etc. Something with this situation that she has told me does not add up, etc. My feelings are that she knew all along that she was abusing the system as this goes back to 2004. She said she thought everything was fine since it is now 2007. etc.

 

[funnygarcia]

You CAN work and be on SS disability. It can not be "gainful" employment, they change the max dollar amount each year.

If you earn above $860/month it's considered gainful employment and the benefits will end within two months. But you can get benefits restarted if you find the work is too difficult for your disability, no need to reapply.

It starts a countdown called "trial period of work" of a 9 month period if they earn above $620 in a month. The govt counts those 9 months within a 60 month period, does not have to be a continuous 9 months.
Meanwhile you can still get full benefits.

If you are under a vocational rehab program they can not cut you off SSDI until your vocational rehab is complete.

And working disabled people can have medicaid, they "buy in" to their state medical aid. Great program to help with costs not covered by Medicare!!

My husband is graduating in two weeks, will start working in August. Starting the clock for SSDI benefits to end and switch to being a tax paying citizen. He will continue to get Medicare due to his kidney failure, but will have insurance thru his employer. It's been a long road and we are so happy that he has the opportunity to work again!

 

[funnygarcia]

ahhhh I see, 2004 she worked.. still within the 60 month period.
And yes, she will have to pay back for any months that she earned too much $$.

Social Security does keep tabs on working disabled.It may take awhile for them to contact the person to question reported earnings.
We had to fill out a form and count back 5 years to show proof that hubby did not earn above the trial period max amt more than 9 months in that period. Had to pull paystubs from our storage, they wanted accounting for certain months that occcured three years before we got the form!

He worked at a truck stop part time... working a few weekends a month qualified him for medical assistance (had to work to pay for drugs! ).

Longer months, holiday pay and bonuses added up and put him on the borderline of making too much! In that 5 year period he was over by a tiny bit for 5 of the months.

We will see how many "trial" months he will get at the start of his new career. Hoping he gets at least one extra month to help recoup the costs of applying for teacher licensure, certification tests, moving expenses, etc.

 

[Patty3]

The person collected about $30,000 from SS, while also collecting a paycheck. Also would they make her pay back any medical that SS also paid? All I know is that I would not want to be in her shoes.....

Kitty, I really do not know. I would not want to be in her shoes either. From what you have posted, it does not sound good.

 

[ducklite]

You are allowed to earn a certain amount of money while on SSDI..It's not a lot but a few thousand...You can also continue to collect SSDI for 6 months when you go back to work if your disability improved..It's a grace period of sorts.
Not exactly related to what you posted but I want to make it clear that you will find some people working while on SSDI

I have a friend who has been on SSDI since a devastating bout with cancer a few years back. The cancer is gone, but the treatment created a major facial disfigurement and moderate speech impediment, and is no longer employable in the field she was previously in as a result. She is attending college now so she can go into a different field, and still collecting SSDI.

She sells MaryKay cosmetics and makes about $1000 a year doing it. She reports all of the income to SSDI, and hasn't been penalized for it, because it's below their threshhold. It's not a lot of money, but it's enough to give her a little breathing room and some money for "extras" each month. Plus she gets a discount on anything she buys for herself.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

Jenny so true. However this person claims she reported her earnings, and then talked her boss into paying her under the table, etc. I feel if she had reported the earnings, they would not be ??? her now, etc. Something with this situation that she has told me does not add up, etc. My feelings are that she knew all along that she was abusing the system as this goes back to 2004. She said she thought everything was fine since it is now 2007. etc.

Even if she reported the earnings to SSDI, if she were being paid under the table she'd owe taxes on that income. So if one end of the dog doesn't get her, the others going to. Either way I agree, I wouldn't want to be in her shoes.

My friends aunt ended up owing over $250,000 between paying back everything, fines, and interest!

Anne

 

[barkley]

social security uses the same systems (and more) that the welfare department uses to track income. when someone becomes employed (not under the table) and their employer begins paying into ss and on taxes it triggers a report to social security that shows the person is employed and what their reported quarterly earnings are. if they have a bank account there are also reports that go out and show the daily balance so a worker can look at weather there is unreported deposits coming into the account. it's amazing the kind of info. we would auto get from different sources-reports of accident settlements (so we could ensure that the med pay went back to the gov programs vs recipient receiving), reports of usage of minor children's ssn's (in which case you checked to see if their parent was a recipient of public assistance or ss and was fraudulently using their number), property transfers (including inheritances)...

with ss if you are ineligible one day in a month you are ineligible the entire month-so if a person's (on ssi since they have a property limit vs ss disability for people with appropriate work quarters and contributions) bank account was a dollar over the max for one day the entire month was eligible for zero benefits.

the realy stupid thing about people failing to report stuff is if the information had been reported and they would have remained eligible it's no issue-but by virtue of not reporting, even if they were eligible it is deemed fraud and they will likely have an overpayment for both the ss money and any med benefits paid out. social security is also much more able to handle overpayments-while other forms of public assistance if the person is deemed to have an overpayment can only take 5 or 10% of their continuing grant per month to repay-ss can opt to recoup the entire monthly benefit for as long as it takes to repay-even if the person goes off ss-and years down the line becomes eligible to regular ss retirement benefits-they can find themselves receiving zero for years.

medicare, medicaid and state versions (at least california's) all have provisions wherein benefits paid out during a period of fraudulent ineligibility can be pursued for both repayment and criminal prosecution.

 

[JennyMominRI]

social security uses the same systems (and more) that the welfare department uses to track income. when someone becomes employed (not under the table) and their employer begins paying into ss and on taxes it triggers a report to social security that shows the person is employed and what their reported quarterly earnings are.
the realy stupid thing about people failing to report stuff is if the information had been reported and they would have remained eligible it's no issue-but by virtue of not reporting, even if they were eligible it is deemed fraud and they will likely have an overpayment for both the ss money and any med benefits paid out. social security is also much more able to handle overpayments-while other forms of public assistance if the person is deemed to have an overpayment can only take 5 or 10% of their continuing grant per month to repay-ss can opt to recoup the entire monthly benefit for as long as it takes to repay-even if the person goes off ss-and years down the line becomes eligible to regular ss retirement benefits-they can find themselves receiving zero for years.

.

Are you saying that if someone is on SSDI, the gov has access to their bank account info?

 

[javaj]

Related but different issue -- my husband's second cousin is mentally retarded but is functional enough to live on his own, work certain part-time jobs. Anyway, he is on SS disability and works part-time at Wal-Mart.

Apparently employers of retarded people have certain responsibilities, work the employees only at certain locations, specific tasks, maximum number of hours, maximum pay per month, etc. Anyway, one month, his manager at Wal-Mart had him work too many hours and his SS Disability was taken away, and they ordered him to pay back past payments because he was fit to work!!!

So I don't know how long the process took -- a few months, I think. He was struggling because he obviously couldn't support himself. He ended up in front of a judge and it took all of 1 minute (if that!) for the judge to figure out that he was eligible for his social security disability.

 

[barkley]

Are you saying that if someone is on SSDI, the gov has access to their bank account info?

if a person is on ssi which has a property/income criteria for eligibility, then it's a provision of application and receipt that a person has to provide all info. re their assetts including bank accounts-so theres a release on file as part of the application process, but even if a person is on social security disability retirement (or as a minor receives based on their parent's disability) with no provision for property-but one that will look at earnings, ss has their social security number and receives data from various reporting sources. social security like the irs-can gain information from many sources that are mandated to report to them, but they have no mandate to reciprocate that information back. i've known of cases wherein social security has reviewed bank records and found that a person was over the property limit causing ineligibility, found a trend of deposits from what was later to be found to be under the table income, learned of lump sum distributions (inheritances are a major way ssi recipients become ineligible-and even if the blow it in one month they can be ineligible for years depending on how much they received)...some of it's info. from public data bases anyone can access, some of it's info. that employers have to feed in on any working person they employ, some is info. that insurance companies have to report regulatory agencies, some is collected by the dmv...it's amazing how much information the agency i worked for could gather on a person, and we had nowhere near the access ss had.

 

[JennyMominRI]

if a person is on ssi which has a property/income criteria for eligibility, then it's a provision of application and receipt that a person has to provide all info. re their assetts including bank accounts-so theres a release on file as part of the application process, but even if a person is on social security disability retirement (or as a minor receives based on their parent's disability) with no provision for property-but one that will look at earnings, ss has their social security number and receives data from various reporting sources. social security like the irs-can gain information from many sources that are mandated to report to them, but they have no mandate to reciprocate that information back. i've known of cases wherein social security has reviewed bank records and found that a person was over the property limit causing ineligibility, found a trend of deposits from what was later to be found to be under the table income, learned of lump sum distributions (inheritances are a major way ssi recipients become ineligible-and even if the blow it in one month they can be ineligible for years depending on how much they received)...some of it's info. from public data bases anyone can access, some of it's info. that employers have to feed in on any working person they employ, some is info. that insurance companies have to report regulatory agencies, some is collected by the dmv...it's amazing how much information the agency i worked for could gather on a person, and we had nowhere near the access ss had.

That would explain things because I get SSDI and have never had to show any info regarding my bank accounts etc.