Seems like a good opportunity to do some clinical studies on longevity drugs.
Get a group of a few hundred “generally healthy” 90 year olds, randomly assign them to control groups or treatment groups (rapamycin, SGLT2 inhibitors, etc.) and track their health over the next decade…
so for those “its all about genetics” folks - how is this happening?
I don’t want to sound too cynical, but how many of these people are actually alive and how many have already died but their families are keeping the pension paychecks coming by not reporting the death?
Not cynical at all, and look who is at the top of the list.
From Gemini Pro:
This phenomenon, often referred to by financial investigators as “ghost pensioner” or “deceased payee” fraud, occurs worldwide. When governments audit their pension rolls, they routinely find thousands of cases where family members have failed to report a death, sometimes going to extreme lengths to conceal the body, in order to keep collecting checks.
Here is a breakdown of the most significant discoveries and estimates by country:
| Country | Audit / Investigation | Estimated Impact & Discovery |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | 2010 Nationwide Audit | 234,354 registered centenarians were unaccounted for. Widespread cases of families hiding deaths to collect benefits were discovered. |
| Greece | 2012 Pension Census | ~57,000 “ghost pensioners” identified, costing the state roughly €500 million. In thousands of cases, relatives intentionally “forgot” to declare deaths. |
| United Kingdom | DWP Data (2019–2025) | £512 million overpaid to deceased claimants. While some of this is due to administrative lag, a significant portion involves family fraud. |
| United States | Treasury Pilot (2024–2026) | Identified $99 million sent to 4,900 deceased payees in a single year, projecting $330 million in prevented fraud through 2026. |
Key Country Breakdowns
Japan: The “Missing Centenarians” Crisis
Japan has one of the most famous examples of this fraud. In 2010, officials went to congratulate Tokyo’s “oldest man,” Sogen Kato, on his 111th birthday. Instead, they found his mummified remains in his bed; he had been dead for 30 years. His family had fraudulently collected roughly $117,000 (¥9.5 million) in pension benefits during that time.
This sparked a nationwide audit, revealing that the government could not account for over 234,000 people registered as 100 years or older. While some were missing due to poor WWII-era recordkeeping, a vast number were cases of families secretly hiding deaths to maintain the pension income.
Greece: The Financial Crisis Audit
During its sovereign debt crisis, the Greek government initiated a strict census of its pensioners in 2012 to cut costs. They required pensioners to physically present themselves to authorities. The result uncovered massive systemic fraud. Officials found that over 57,000 people were improperly receiving basic pensions, costing the National Insurance Fund half a billion euros. In the majority of the prosecuted cases, it was discovered that children and relatives had simply continued cashing checks for years after the pensioner had passed away.
United States: The Death Master File
In the U.S., the Social Security Administration (SSA) routinely stops payments when deaths are reported by funeral homes or Medicare, but fraud still slips through. In early 2026, the U.S. Treasury expanded a pilot program using the “Full Death Master File” to proactively screen for deceased payees. In just one year, they intercepted $99 million bound for 4,900 deceased individuals.
(Note: In 2025, a viral claim suggested that “tens of millions” of dead centenarians were receiving U.S. Social Security. The SSA Inspector General clarified that while the system had 18.9 million inactive numbers with missing death dates due to an old software default, those individuals were not actively receiving payments.)
Italy: The “Nonni Fantasma”
In Italy, this type of crime is so common it has a colloquial name: nonni fantasma (ghost grandparents). Italian police (Guardia di Finanza) regularly uncover elaborate schemes. In a bizarre 2025 case in Borgo Virgilio, a 56-year-old man was caught dressing in drag—wearing his deceased mother’s clothes, wig, and makeup—to renew her ID card so he could continue claiming her €53,000 annual pension. He had hidden her body in his laundry room for years.
So, IMO the story sounds like complete BS.
Whoa, some very interesting details, very illuminating. People are the same everywhere, ha.