Disability Fraud Penalties

The Social Security Disability Insurance (abbreviated as SSDI) is a social insurance program managed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) in the United States of America. Under this program, the Federal government provides financial assistance to people who are unable to work owing to some disability that they are suffering from.

Generally, this financial assistance is provided until the person's condition improves, and he is back to work. The scheme also guarantees income for those individuals who are suffering from prolonged disorders, wherein their condition is less likely to improve. Being one of the largest social security programs in the world, the chances of lapses in the same cannot be ruled out. Over the last few years, several cases of frauds related to this program have been recorded.

Disability Fraud

In simple terms, a disability fraud is a type of fraud wherein the payment intended to provide social security benefits to an individual with disability is fraudulently received by people who are not entitled for it. At the same time, those cases wherein a person who receives a stipulated amount of money which is more than what he is entitled to, also qualifies as a fraud. People resort to various fraudulent means to receive money which is actually not entitled to them. Some of the most common means include feigning disabilities, exaggerating the existing medical problem, claiming more amount than what he is actually entitled to or continuing to receive payment even after recovering from the said medical problem.

Social Security Disability Fraud Penalties

The Social Security Disability Insurance doesn't just cover people who are physically handicapped, but also those people who are suffering from various physical as well as psychological ailments which don't allow them to indulge in physical work. That makes the concept even more broad, as there exist several conditions which cannot be determined visually. Most of the people who indulge in these frauds resort to such ailments which are difficult to determine, thus making it difficult for the authorities to identify these frauds. Considering that a significant amount of the GDP goes into such schemes, it is important for the authorities to curb such practices. Penalizing those who are convicted for such disability frauds is just one of the various means which is used to curb these fraudulent practices.

The penalties for Social Security disability fraud are determined by the Social Security Act of the U.S. Code. These penalties, that the person is subjected to when he commits any such frauds, depend on the severity of the crime. At the most, a penalty for this crime may reach $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years. An individual who is entitled to disability benefits, but provides false evidence about the severity of his condition in order to increase the amount of money he is supposed to receive, is penalized the amount that he is supposed to receive for the first six months on his first offense, 12 months for second such offense and 24 months for each subsequent offense. In some cases, the person is also stripped of the entire amount of money that he receives as a part of this scheme.

If you come across any such case wherein a person is earning wages through proper employment and simultaneously availing disability benefits you can report the same to Social Security Administration (SSA). For reporting Social Security disability frauds SSA has its own toll-free Social Security Administration Hotline - (800) 269-0271. If you are not keen on calling, you can also report the same by writing to SSA at Social Security Fraud Hotline at P.O. Box 17768, Baltimore, Maryland 21235. You need to be careful about reporting Social Security frauds though, as many times the ailment owing to which a person is not able to work is psychological and hence not visible.