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Inside DOGE’s Chaotic Takeover of Social Security

Politics|The Bureaucrat and the Billionaire: Inside DOGE’s Chaotic Takeover of Social Security

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/us/politics/doge-social-security.html

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Elon Musk stood before a giant American flag at a Wisconsin political rally in March and rolled out an eye-popping allegation of rampant fraud at the Social Security Administration. Scammers, he said, were making 40 percent of all calls to the agency’s customer service line.

Social Security employees knew the billionaire’s claim had no basis in fact. After journalists followed up, staff members began drafting a response correcting the record.

That’s when Leland Dudek — plucked from a midlevel job only six weeks earlier to run Social Security because of his willingness to cooperate with Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency — got an angry call from the White House, according to several people familiar with the exchange.

Listen to our reporter’s commentary

“The number is 40 percent,” insisted Katie Miller, a top administration aide who was working closely with Mr. Musk, according to one of the people familiar with the April 1 call. President Trump believed Mr. Musk, she said. “Do not contradict the president.”

Throughout the early months of this Trump presidency, Mr. Musk and his allies systematically built a false narrative of widespread fraud at the Social Security Administration based on misinterpreted data, using their claims to justify an aggressive effort to gain access to personal information on millions of Americans, a New York Times investigation has found.

March 12

Social Security Administration publishes an explanation of phone service changes.

“Approximately 40 percent of Social Security direct deposit fraud is associated with someone calling SSA to change direct deposit bank information.”

The DOGE account on X also shared the statistic about direct deposit fraud cases.

“Approx. 40% of Social Security direct deposit fraud is associated with fraudsters calling SSA on the phone and changing the direct deposit bank account from the correct one to a fraudulent one.”

Elon Musk quoted the post with a one-word response.

“Exactly.”

March 27

A DOGE engineer, Aram Moghaddassi, appears to distort the statistic in a Fox News interview.

“At Social Security, one of the first things we learned is that they get phone calls every day of people trying to change direct deposit information ... We learned 40 percent of the calls that they get are from fraudsters.”

Users on X like @nicksortor, a right-wing influencer, share and exaggerate the claim.

“🚨 HOLY CRAP! Elon Musk and DOGE just revealed a whopping **40%** of calls to Social Security are fraudsters.”

Mr. Musk responds and amplifies the false claim.

“Craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”

March 30

Mr. Musk repeats the false claim at a campaign event.

“Forty percent of the calls into Social Security were fraudulent.”

April 1

Agency staff draft a statement to correct the false claim and update their analysis. The memo is shared with DOGE leadership.

“Monthly between 25% - 30% of direct deposit allegations are for direct deposit changes initiated over the telephone.”

Katie Miller, a White House aide advising DOGE, doubles down and instructs staff not to release the statement.

“The number is 40 percent.”