New Social Security Anti-Fraud Policy Will Start Affecting Retirees In August

To prevent fraud, the Social Security Administration plans to implement new restrictions on its phone service, which may force millions of senior citizens to head to the nearest security office for routine services. The proposed change, which may go into effect on August 18, 2025 if the Office of Budget and Management approves it, would require recipients to go their online My Social Security account to inform the SSA about a change of address, if the way an update on a benefit claim or if they want to obtain tax forms or a benefit verification letter, CNN reported. As part of the process, the retiree would create a one-time authorization PIN and relay to an SSA agent to proceed on the phone.

But if they do not have an account, or if they are unable to go online, retirees will have to go to their nearest Social Security office. That will be a challenge for one-in-four adults who never go online and could force another 3.4 million retirees a year to head to Social Security offices for routine issues that can now be done on the phone, according to a report from retiree advocacy group AARP.

Since April 25, 2025 Social Security recipients have had to go online, or head to a SSA office, to report any direct deposit changes. But, according to a July 18 SSA filing with the Office of Management and Budget, the change doesn't go far enough and there was still a fraud risk associated with providing change of address, tax info, and status claim updates solely by phone.

However, Nancy A. LeaMond, executive vice president of AARP, warned in a letter to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano that the option to verify identity online will be difficult for seniors who either do not have internet access or are unfamiliar with conducting business online. That will force millions of Americans who rely on SSA's phone service to journey to a SSA office, many of whom have mobility issues. In addition, almost 25% of seniors live more than an hour from the nearest SSA office, LeaMond added. Plus, the Trump Administration now requires newly naturalized citizens and immigrants who obtained work authorization to head over to a SSA office to receive a Social Security Administration, according to a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).

With immigrants required to go to the SSA office, and internet challenged seniors already visiting to update bank deposit info, Social Security offices will receive 5.3 million people each year at a time when 3,000 staffers were cut from field offices, per the CBPP report. This will result in more people having longer wait times for in-person service, CBPP added. And, as of July 30, 2025, it takes 35 days to get an appointment at a SSA office, according to CNN.

Many of the job cuts at SSA, and rest of the federal government, were initiated by DOGE founder Elon Musk who claimed that Social Security was a Ponzi scheme that needed more than $500 billion in cuts each year to end fraud.  That assertion contradicted an Office of the Inspector General report, which stated that only $72 billion in "improper payments" were made between the fiscal years of 2015 and 2022, or less than 1% of payments made during that period.

Although Musk no longer heads DOGE, the buyouts and layoffs at the federal government continue. And while some retirees will be eligible for new senior deductions under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the same law reduces the flow of tax revenue to the Social Security Trust, which could lead to its insolvency and a 24% cut in Social Security benefits by late 2032, according to a report from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.