You might have to pay back Social Security benefits as recipients charged up to $435,000 bills after mistakes

ALMOST 100 people have been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars after receiving disability benefits they were not entitled to.

The fines were enforced by the inspector general’s office to low-income, disabled, and elderly people who likely have no means to pay the penalties.

According to a report by the Washington Post, the highest fine was given to a New Jersey woman and was a startling $435,000.

The report states that the woman received nearly $47,000 in benefits but failed to report a $120,000 house she inherited from her father.

Additionally, she also failed to report car loans that she co-signed for her children, which she claimed was her lawyer's advice.

The report also revealed that a Chicago woman was charged $132,000 after wrongly collecting nearly $10,618 in benefits.

That's over 10 times the amount she received.

Meanwhile, Gail Deckman was overpaid disability benefits after her partner died of kidney cancer, but the 73-year-old believed the monthly payment was connected to land he had sold in Michigan.

Four years later, she received a bill of $119,392 from the Social Security Administration (SSA) — nearly three times what she received in error.

As she didn't have the money to repay, the SSA garnished the entire $704 check she was going to receive every month in retirement.

It means she can now apply for retirement in 2032 at the age of 83.

Representative Gerald E. Connolly leads the government operations panel on the House Oversight and Reform Committee and told the Washington Post that the penalties are “a cheap, easy way of getting enforcement up”.

The acting Social Security commissioner said Monday that it will launch an investigation into the previous Inspector General Gail Ennis’s oversight of the anti-fraud program.

Documents obtained by The Post reveal that 83 people were charged a total of $11.5million.

For context, in the entirety of 2017, less than $700,000 in fines were imposed.

The Sun reached out to the SSA for comment.

What is Social Security?

The social insurance program consists of retirement, disability and survivor benefits.

The retirement benefits are based on your highest 35 years of earnings and differ depending on when you choose to start receiving benefits.

Typically, the benefits are meant to replace about 40% of pre-retirement income.

Nearly 97% of Americans are either collecting benefits or will be receiving them once they reach their full retirement age.

Many retirees depend on their Social Security and have been paying into the system for years expecting to get relief.

In other Social Security news, checks worth $1,657 land in accounts in 24 hours.

Plus, hundreds of thousands of Americans may not have to pay Social Security tax under a new plan.