Comptroller General of the Union (CGU)Reproduction/CGU
Published 04/17/2024 22:47
A report by the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) published in October last year found 1,115 possible cases of pension payments intended for dead people. According to an audit, these people had died before payments began, demonstrating flaws in the monitoring system of the National Social Security Institute (INSS).
This Tuesday, the 16th, an attempted fraud using a deceased person had national repercussions, after a woman took a corpse to a bank branch to try to obtain a loan of R$17,000 in Rio de Janeiro.
To get a loan, the woman took a dead elderly man to the bank, with the intention of making the transfer in his name. “Sign so you don’t give me any more headaches,” the woman asked the corpse, acting as if the person were alive. Her defense claims that the elderly man was alive when they arrived at the bank branch.
The incidents analyzed by the CGU are different from the case of attempted fraud in Rio and refer to pensions paid by the INSS, and not bank loans. The report analyzed social security operations carried out between 2021 and 2023, and identified “1,115 cases indicating the death of the holder prior to the start date of the benefit”. In other words, these are not people who died and continued to receive benefits, but rather benefits that began to be paid in the name of people who were already dead.
The CGU does not detail whether the 1,115 occurrences correspond to fraud or technical errors. The report, which is not investigative in nature, advises the INSS to correct monitoring errors that allow dead people to continue receiving benefits.
To locate inconsistencies, the CGU audit cross-checked data between INSS beneficiaries, the National Civil Registration Information System (SIRC) and the Death Control System (SISOBI), among other databases. Estadão contacted the INSS, but received no response.
“The insufficiency of control and monitoring tools can be observed when crossing the INSS benefit concession database with other government databases, which indicated occurrences of automatic concessions indicating the death of the holder”, wrote the CGU auditors. The “automatic concession” mentioned by the auditors is a system adopted by the INSS in 2017, and which has been gaining ground within the body.
CGU estimated annual losses of R$323 million due to payments to dead people
In 2019, another CGU survey, named Assessment Report 201900535, found 20,104 INSS beneficiaries who were included in the federal government’s Death System (SISOBI) and who, even so, were receiving payments. The Controllership considered that the incidents represented a potential loss of R$323 million to social security that year.
To avoid situations like these, the INSS performs the so-called “proof of life”, when the beneficiary needs to prove that they are still alive to continue receiving payments. Today, “proof of life” can be done online, through facial recognition, or in person, at INSS units or in banks where beneficiaries receive deposits.
In the 2019 report, the CGU audit considered that the INSS presented a “fragility in the process of maintaining social security benefits, with regard to the non-cancellation of benefits for insured people” that appear in the Death System database.
“Since 2005, the problem has been repeatedly recorded, as explained in the report, without structuring solutions having been adopted by the INSS. It is noteworthy that the situations identified used data to which the INSS has access and which are under its governance, so that there would be no impediment to the implementation of such controls”, stated the CGU report.
Woman will be investigated for attempted theft and vilification of a corpse
According to the Rio de Janeiro police, Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes arrived at the bank taking Paulo Roberto Braga, 68 years old, in a wheelchair. The deceased was a client of the agency and had a pre-approved loan in his name.
Holding the man’s head so that it wouldn’t fall, the woman spoke to the corpse asking him to sign. “Uncle Paulo, are you listening? You need to sign. If you don’t sign, there’s no way. I can’t sign for you, I’ll do what I can do”, said the woman. The scene was recorded by bank employees at the agency.
Given the situation, the employee commented on the man’s paleness: “He’s not well, no. His color isn’t staying…”. In response, Érika added: “But that’s just how he is.”
Bank employees called the police. The woman is being investigated for attempted theft by fraud and vilification of a corpse. The defense says the elderly man was alive.
According to delegate Fábio Souza, head of the 34th Bangu Police Station, Érika is Paulo Roberto’s cousin. Coroners from the Rio de Janeiro police estimated that he had died at least two hours before the Mobile Customer Service (Samu) team arrived at the bank branch.
