social security

ID, social security

US: Social Security Number is an unreliable identity management technology

Should We Kill the Social Security Number? (Huffington Post)

That’s right: Social Security numbers were not intended for identification. They were made to track how much money people made to figure out benefit levels. That’s it. Before 1972, the cards issued by the Social Security Administration even said, “For Social Security purposes. Not for Identification.” The numbers only started being used for identification in the 1960s when the first big computers made that doable. They were first used to identify federal employees in 1961, and then a year later the IRS adopted the method. Banks and other institutions followed suit. And the rest is history.

Author: Adam Levin, Former Director New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs; Chairman of Credit.com and Identity Theft 911.

There’s a lot of good data in the article about just how much fraud is perpetrated against the IRS, fraud that is at least partly due to over-reliance on the Social Security number for ID purposes.

Africa, finger, pensions, ROI, social security, South Africa, welfare

New biometric payment cards for South African social grant recipients offer greater security and convenience

The new system is dramatically reducing SASSA’s operating costs. Until now, it has cost SASSA between R26 ($3.25) and R35 ($4.38) per grant to pay beneficiaries. Under the new agreement, disbursement costs will be capped at R16.50 ($2.07) per payment, enabling the agency to save up to R3bn ($375m) in operating costs over the next five years. This means that the agency will be able to spend its budget allocation more effectively in the future, making a meaningful difference in the lives of more South Africans.
“The early success of the project rollout affirms MasterCard’s vision to create a world beyond cash, as electronic payments using debit MasterCards opens up a world of financial inclusion for many South Africans who have previously not had access to banking products,” says Dries Zietsman, Country Manager, MasterCard South Africa.

“With over 2.5 million cards already issued since rollout in March 2012, it is clear that the cards are already being widely accepted by beneficiaries who are realising the benefits of a cashless environment,” he concludes.

ID management, social security, South Africa

South Africa Seeks to Curb Social Security Leakage with Biometric ID

State tightens up on social grants (IOL News)

From the beginning of June, the agency started a full re-registration of all social grant beneficiaries “on a comprehensive biometric identification system”.

Social development director general Vusi Madonsela said the number of beneficiaries who might be receiving grants fraudulently was not known.

“We can only estimate, based on international standards… that there is an estimated 10 percent leakage.

It’s notoriously difficult to estimate losses due to fraud because, in any individual transactions, if the bureaucracy knew it was being defrauded, it wouldn’t engage in the transaction.

This is the first time I’ve seen a reference to the ten percent standard global estimate. That’s as good a place as any to begin a return on investment analysis.

South Africa has been very active in strengthening its ID management infrastructure.