A federal jury has convicted Asha Anderson, 48, of Pompano Beach, Florida, of stealing more than $152,000 in Social Security retirement benefits that kept arriving for nearly six years after her great-aunt died. The Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General announced the verdict on October 20, 2026. Jurors found her guilty of theft of government funds and Social Security fraud after a six-day trial.
The case shows how a payment can keep flowing after a death when Social Security is never told. The great-aunt’s benefits were direct-deposited into a bank account, and the agency kept depositing them because it did not know she had died. Families handling a relative’s affairs can report suspected misuse of a dead person’s benefits to the inspector general through its fraud reporting page…