Social Security’s Rep Payee Program an Open Invitation to Defraud

How did it happen that a criminal team could hold mentally incapable people hostage in a Philadelphia basement while stealing their Social Security checks?

The fact is that the Social Security Administration's Representative Payee program is an open invitation to defraud taxpayers. A Representative Payee is a person or agency selected by SSA to administer benefits of others who are not capable of doing so themselves.

That's how four mentally incapacitated men were able to be held captive in a Philadelphia basement. Two of the men are believed to have been held for eleven years. The suspects arrested in the case are being charged with a range of offenses, including Social Security fraud.

The four victims imprisoned in the Philadelphia basement were receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability benefits, perhaps both.

But what's really shocking is what's hardly mentioned in the news stories. The methods used by Social Security to monitor such payments is careless and negligent.

Unless the Social Security Administration addresses these obvious problems of its Representative Payee program, the nightmare scenario of public fraud and human cruelty will endlessly repeat.

How does it all work?

A person determined incapable (by a doctor) of managing money paid under Social Security's disability programs must have an appointed representative (called a Representative Payee) to handle benefits. The Representative Payee then sets up a bank account in his or her own name, specifying it is "for" the SSI beneficiary.

One person may be Representative Payee for several persons, expanding the scope of potential fraud.

There are few controls on money paid in this manner. Once selected, the person in charge of the checks may receive an occasional questionnaire which asks for bank balances, changes of address, and whether or not the money is being used for the disabled persons care.

A person with an intent to defraud just checks the right answer blocks on the questionnaire. Did you use the money for so-and-so's benefit? The questions are as easy as that. A Representative Payee can buy cars, computers, TVs or just about anything at all and simply say they used it for the "beneficiary."

The only problems which may occur is when the payee doesn't spend enough money each month, and lets the bank balance build up. At that point, the Social Security Administration might call the payee in for a face to face interview.

The periodic "accounting" form for a Representative Payee may even be completed online at SSA's web site, requiring no face-to-face contact.

A glance at the Representative Payee application form, available on an internet documents database, reveals how easy it is to receive federal money on behalf of an incapable person.

No follow up is done unless there is something on the form that raises suspicions, perhaps a return address at the state penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pa.

In the thousands of cases involving "street people," many of whom move frequently, a reliable payee is difficult to find. Enter people like Linda Westen, 50, the person allegedly managing benefits for the people she held captive.

It's a lucrative scam and a tremendous waste of taxpayer resources. It needs to be stopped.