“The easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen, because whoever screams is the one stealing,” he claimed. “Because my mother-in-law is not calling me. Come on, your mother ― 80-year-olds, 90-year-olds ― they trust the government.”

Howard Lutnick, Donald Trump’s billionaire commerce secretary, suggested on a podcast this week that missing Social Security checks aren’t a big deal, and that only a “fraudster” would actually complain if their monthly benefit didn’t come in the mail.