Save the Phone System at the Social Security Administration

In another week, the Social Security Administration will no longer provide phone service if verifying your identity is necessary. The SSA explains that they are fighting fraud, and fraudsters are having a heyday stealing identities and siphoning off money from the intended recipients.

That's a worth endeavor, you might suggest. But I suggest we could have all the security necessary without throwing away the phone. Customer service once was something important, and the new government -- the Trump / Musk administration -- is failing to recognize that.

And a secure system is possible.

Voice recognition is being used to verify telephone identity by various entities. Why not the SSA use it, then? Let's go ahead and recognize voices can be captured and words changed by the modern AI systems. It's called voice spoofing. Criminals record someone's voice, then mimic it. It's even possible to synthesize someone's voice to create what is known as a "deepfake voice."

But that can be dealt with. Have the system set up so the voice recognition is required throughout the conversation. Your voice has to match throughout as questions and answers are bounced back and forth. Let's see if the voice spoofers and deepfakes can maneuver past that obstacle.

But there is more that should be done prevent fraudsters from hijacking your Social Security checks. They have to have a bank account to put it in, right? Too often, the requirements for setting up a bank account are lax. Banks compete for customers and the bank that makes setting up an account the easiest often wins the prize.

So, hold the banks accountable. Make them be the ones who must verify in person. As is, a person can open an account online through identity theft. Steal the Social Security card. Steal the driver's license. Steal the birthdate and the whatever information is required. As it is now, you can send the image of the driver's license and Social Security card online. Don't allow the banks to be so careless.

And, if they are, hit them with criminal penalties. This is not a slight thing they are allowing. Put their feet to the fire.

And, thirdly, make a better effort to chase down the criminals. Throw them in jail. In today's society, they live large, not often getting prosecuted. Police investigations are often shallow, with the police explaining they don't have enough time.

Make time. If you have to hire more officers, do it.

And speaking of hiring more people, if the SSA needs to hire more people to make this work, it should. Musk is hell bent on cutting. Cut, cut, cut is all he thinks; that's his mindset. But having a smooth-operating SSA is more important than having a lean one. Government is there to serve the people, so that is the way it should be designed. A government so lean that it doesn't fulfill its purpose is useless.