Thousands of Stimulus Checks Sent to Dead People

Since the first wave of $1,200 stimulus checks were sent out this week, reports have been coming from all over the country from people who say they’ve received money for loved ones – who are no longer alive.

Among those:  Virginia resident Jeanne Siracuse, who received a notification, earlier this week, informing her that $1,200 had been deposited into her mother’s account.  Her mom was buried last August.  “Obviously, she does not need stimulus right now,” Siracuse says.  “It’s not something she would have wanted to happen.  She was very conservative and would not want to see that kind of waste.”

The problem is the Internal Revenue Service compiled its list of recipients from residents who filed taxes for 2019 or 2018.  So, anyone who’s died, since then, still made the list.

What’s more is there’s no legal provision that allows the government to reclaim money that’s already been sent out, an unidentified lawmaker tells NBC News.

So people who have received stimulus money, sent to their dead relatives, will likely be able to keep it, the source says.