I think the unique ID system should be fixed (without damaging privacy); we have the technology to fix IDs to identify people and let them ID themselves or do KYC without the current fraude prone and error prone setup. I understand this is a big undertaking, at the start, but in the end, it will be easier for most people, harder or impossible for fraudsters and easier for the government. Indeed having a unique UUID assigned at birth or when moving into the country is a first step and trivial to check for even if it is, in essence, anonymous.

It's actually pretty easy in the US.

There are special protections for illegal immigrants so it's reasonably easy to invent a family of them to collect benefits.

In addition, various US govts or even agencies within the same govt, often don't talk to one another.

So, when an old person dies, friends/family can keep collecting benefits.

See https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/mar/16/social-securit...

"Social Security records show that 6.5 million people in the US have reached the ripe old age of 112. In reality, only few could possibly be alive. As of last fall, there were only 42 people known to be that old in the entire world."

It's not just dead people.

"One Social Security number was used 613 times. An additional 194 numbers were used at least 50 times each."

Its more like not registering the departures of family members from this mortal coil, and is a persistent (if relatively small scale) problem with Social Security payments in the States.

Which, one again, circles to the point that the money, time, and effort spent on fighting such low level individual fraud typically vastly out-spends the actual fraud they're trying to combat.