'Twilight is real': Why Elon Musk said 100 to 300-year-old 'vampires' are collecting Social Security in US

US President President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk have recently claimed that many people aged 100-300 years are wrongfully receiving benefits. Musk's Department of Government Efficiency called it a "HUGE problem" whilst investigating federal agencies for wasteful spending.

"According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE," Musk posted, accompanying an Excel spreadsheet displaying age brackets and recipient numbers. He humorously added, "Maybe Twilight is real, and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security."

He shared data that suggested over 20 million recipients aged 100-plus, including 3.9 million aged 130-139, 3.5 million aged 140-149, and 1.3 million aged 150-159. This contrasts sharply with the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data, which recorded approximately 80,000 centenarians among the total population of 335 million.


However, according to the Associated Press, barring some improper payments—including those to deceased individuals—the administration's figures are exaggerated and misinterpret Social Security records.

As per AP, a July 2024 inspector general report shows that of $8.6 trillion disbursed during 2015-2022, only $71.8 billion (under 1%) constituted improper payments, mostly overpayments to living recipients.

In January, the Treasury recovered over $31 million in various federal payments incorrectly sent to deceased individuals. This recovery resulted from a pilot programme granting temporary access to Social Security's Full Death Master File, containing over 142 million records dating to 1899.

The Treasury anticipates recovering £215 million during its three-year access period from December 2023 through 2026.

According to AP, part of the confusion comes from Social Security’s software system based on the COBOL programming language, which has a lack of date type. "This means that some entries with missing or incomplete birthdates will default to a reference point of more than 150 years ago. The news organization WIRED first reported on the use of COBOL programming language at the Social Security Administration."

"Additionally, a series of reports from the Social Security Administration’s inspector general in March 2023 and July 2024 state that the agency has not established a new system to properly annotate death information in its database, which included roughly 18.9 million Social Security numbers of people born in 1920 or earlier but were not marked as deceased. This does not mean, however, that these individuals were receiving benefits," AP added.

The agency decided not to update the database because of the cost to do so, which would run upward of $9 million, the report further claimed.