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Showing posts with the label Online Services

What I'm Learning About That New 1696 -- And It's Confusing

     The form SSA-1696 is the form that those of us who represent claimants before the agency must get our clients to sign so that the agency accepts that we have the right to represent them. It's a very basic form for us. Social Security has a new version of the form but there's some serious weirdness about accessing it. Try the link that Social Security has given . If you click on that link with your desktop you get the old version of the form (unless they've already corrected the problem). Click on that link with your cell phone and you get the new version of the form. Can anyone explain that to me? I'm sure that's not what Social Security intended.      I've used my cell phone to download a copy of the new form and I've uploaded it to a service so you can use this link to download the new form regardless of what computer you're using.      The new form asks for the attorney or representative's ID, which is different than o...
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Where Are We This Morning?

     I had posted yesterday afternoon that ERE, the online system that I and other attorneys use to access the files that the Social Security Administration keeps on our clients, was down and had been down the entire day. Comments made in response to that post indicated that many systems used by Social Security employees were also down.      So, where are we this morning? I got into ERE without difficulty a few minutes ago but there were comments, apparently from Social Security employees even this morning saying that many of their systems are still down. Did I just happen to access ERE just as it came back up? Did I just happen to get into a system that's mostly non-functional? What about the systems that Social Security employees use? Are they back up?      I think what has happened or may still be happening is a big enough deal that Social Security ought to send out a press release.
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Social Security Fraud Pays For A Silver Bentley

     There are two stories today.      First, Rowena Isabel Lokeni of Orange County, California has been sentenced to 15 months in prison. Lokeni had fraudently diverted $176,015 in Social Security benefits to herself while working for the Social Security Administration.      Here's the second story, from FA Online: On Youtube, the happy-go-lucky family that goes by the name B.E.A.M. Squad seems to have everything�1.3 million subscribers, a sprawling Palm Beach, Fla. home, exotic travel and a silver Bentley�but they also have a dark, criminal past: According to a 2019 plea deal with the Social Security Administration, they were indicted and arrested for multiple felonies which included stealing Social Security money and filing phony tax returns. Losses to the SSA and the Internal Revenue Service totaled almost $94,000, court documents show. Billy Altidor, 29, and Evanie (Eva) Louis, 27, admit that in 2014 and 2015,...
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