Some Stimulus Payments Sent to Dead People or Wrong Accounts
Many Americans finally saw the stimulus payment hit their account yesterday. If you have yet to receive the direct deposit or check from the CARES Act, you can check the new IRS tool.
But the process has not been smooth, something that you would expect when the government tries to send out payments to tens of millions of people. The new IRS tool had big issues at launch. Then there have been a few reports of people receiving millions by mistake. And now we are learning that some payments are being sent to wrong accounts and dead people.
NYP reports that several taxpayers tried to check the status of their payments on the IRS website only to discover the stimulus payment was sent to accounts they didn’t recognize or no longer use. The IRS tool showed some taxpayers their money had been deposited and displayed the last four digits of the account number where it was sent. But users said the account number was outdated or just plain wrong.
IRS spokeswoman Jodie Reynolds told NYP that she had not heard about checks being sent to the wrong accounts, but she added that if that happens, the money should be rejected by banks and returned to the IRS.
Another issue that is being reports is that dead people are receiving stimulus payments. Rep. Thomas Massie from Kentucky highlighted one such case in a tweet.
Ok this is insane, but just the tip of the iceberg. This is a direct text to me from a friend. I called to confirm this actually just happened. pic.twitter.com/GBRPcmYMXW
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 15, 2020
“The American government paying money out to dead people, or to dead patients, or dead welfare beneficiaries is years and years old,” Malcolm Sparrow, who served on a panel to oversee the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act after the last recession to help detect fraud and waste, told USA Today.
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That’s exactly why without voter ID elections can not be trusted. According to the CDC 2.7 million people died in the U.S. in 2017. As we see with the stimulus checks, dead people are being sent them. Mail voting is the greatest danger because anyone can send in a ballot by mail and face little risk. It can be a family member voting for a diseased relative or someone who looks up an obituary in a paper. Most states remove dead people from the rolls but that can take several years.
Here I can’t fault the government for wanting to get stimulus money out ASAP. Direct deposits are the fastest way but as we know in this community, people churn accounts and sometimes poorer people will have accounts closed because of risk or switch banks for whatever reason. It’s not a perfect system. I’m glad a lot of people are receiving or will be receiving the checks. We need them.