WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following Ways and Means Committee efforts urging the Social Security Administration to improve how it manages a key tool in the fight against identity fraud, the Trump Administration announced new steps to make the Electronic Consent Based Social Security Number Verification (eCBSV) system more accessible and effective. This service allows banks, financial institutions, and other private sector organizations to quickly identify instances of identity fraud and stop financial transactions of fraudsters using stolen identities. The Social Security Administration’s newly announced plan lowers both the cost of implementing the program and the fee for entities to use this service and will also improve the quality of data provided to participating entities.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) applauded the Trump Administration’s move to step up the fight against identity fraud: 

“President Trump has made it a priority to protect Social Security while combating waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government. This move by the Social Security Administration will ensure fewer Americans become the victim of identity theft. The Ways and Means Committee has raised the alarm on the threat to Social Security beneficiaries from fraud and pushed the Social Security Administration for years to make better use of the eCBSV tool. This common-sense move will help better protect the integrity of the Social Security program, its beneficiaries, and the personal information of the American people.” 

The plan announced by the Trump Administration will cut implementation costs of the eCBSV by approximately 40 percent and revise the current fee structure to encourage greater stakeholder participation to meet the program’s cost recovery goals. The changes in the cost and fee structure are based on a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study requested by Chairman Smith, then-Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Drew Ferguson (GA-03), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC). 

In May 2023, the Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee held a hearing on identity fraud. Witnesses warned of the dangers of the Biden Administration’s plan to raise the fee for participation in eCBSV, which would undermine the SSA’s efforts to combat waste, fraud, and abuse and put the SSA at risk of failing to recover up to $38 million in costs related to the development and operation of the system which were paid out of the Social Security Trust Funds.