‘Major reduction in fraud’, says Elon Musk as DOGE deletes names of 12 million individuals aged 120-plus from social security records

The

Department of Government Efficiency

(DOGE) recently shared that it has removed 12 million individuals listed as over 120 years old from the US

Social Security database

. The move, aimed at eliminating fraudulent entries, has drawn praise from tech billionaire Elon Musk, who called it a “major reduction in fraud.” Quoting a post by X user DogeDesigner, Musk wrote “Major reduction in fraud. The fake is-alive SSN flag was being used to steal money from every government program.”

The removal follows concerns that outdated or falsified

Social Security Number

(SSN) entries were being exploited to siphon funds from multiple federal benefit programs, including Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlement systems. DOGE shared an X post on May 23 announcing “After 11 weeks, @SocialSecurity has finished this major cleanup initiative: ~12.3M individuals aged 120+ have now been marked as deceased.” Adding further, it said “Some complex cases remain, such as individuals with 2+ different birth dates on file. These will be investigated in a follow-up effort.”

According to DOGE sources, many of the purged entries were created decades ago, with some dating back to early 20th-century recordkeeping anomalies. The agency said the task was part of a broader push to modernize government databases and introduce biometric and AI-powered verification systems.An image shared by DOGE alongside its announcement includes a chart appearing to break down the number of individuals in various age groups now marked as deceased. According to the data, 3.3 million people with

Social Security

numbers previously listed as being between 120 and 129 years old have been reclassified as deceased. Additionally, 3.9 million individuals aged between 130 and 139 years are now also marked as dead, the chart shows.