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What we know about $600 Social Security increase SSI? This is the truth about the alleged payment
The internet is constantly full of conflicting claims about Social Security or stimulus checks, making it a priority you are aware of when the story isn’t true.
With approximately 68 million Americans receiving Social Security benefits, the volume of internet interest in any change is very high.
Exploiting this vulnerability and interest, some outlets are publishing fake stories with headlines on the topic. Google’s inability to filter out these stories means they continue proliferating, potentially causing the beneficiaries confusion and anxiety when what they are looking for is credible information about the state of their benefits.
Over the last few weeks, some articles that have been promoted on Google Discover include, La Grada’s “Social Security benefit increase in June: Retirees will get an extra $600.″
This news is entirely false.
Breaking down the $600 claim
After mentioning the payment first paragraph, the details are never provided. The rest of the article talks about vague things to do with the program as a whole, but only mentions the $600 again in relation to the cost of living adjustment (COLA) increase right at the end, with no further information.
The latest COLA information suggests the increase in benefits would be around 2.6 percent. For the average benefit of $1,915.26 for retired workers, this would mean an increase of just $38, not $600.
Social Security Administration steps in to quell the discussion
After seeing articles like this and the confusion it caused, the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General issued a rare statement clarifying that the news was false and that no additional payments of this size would be sent.
“Scammers are circulating misinformation around a $600 fake Social Security benefit increase that they are alleging will be issued in June 2024,” reported the SSA, adding that “any information regarding a current $600 increase is false and should be ignored.”
La Grada capitalized on the press release from the SSA’s Inspector General and has published two articles on the ‘rumored $600 payment:’
In neither of these articles does the outlet issue a correction or come close to admitting that it was one of the agencies that put out these false stories in the first place.