Writing the previous post helped me form my questions better, and it
dawned on me to call social security's 800 number. The computer asks a
serious of questions and if you don't like any of the choices eventually
they will give you a human, and in this case, esp. since the wait was 31 minutes, they offered to call me back, which they did at pretty close to
the 31 minute mark. It worked well.

Partly because she never used the words CDB, (and even when I repeated
the question, she didn't say Yes or No) she was not totally convincing,
but she said that benefits and apparently even CDB can be spent any way
the recipient wants. An hour ago I would have been totally surpised,
but while writing the first post here, it occurred to me that Social
Security can be spent any way the person wants, and CDB is based on the
Social Security payments of the parents**.

The 300 or 500 dollars he sent the scammers already is bad enough, but
now they are pressuring him for 3000. He's explained that he has no
money, and they are saying they will ocme an arrest him and put him in
jail, because he promised and reneged. And he believes them. No amount
of facts or logic affects him (that one can't go to jail or even lose a
civil suit for failure to give even a promised gift (unless there was detrimental reliance, which there wasn't) and that foreign countries
can't arrest anyone in another country, at least not the USA. He's a
smart guy but his mind is not working right.

His parents give him money and pay for things, but they are just
upper-middle income, both retired and showing their age. They are
afraid he'll copy the account and routing number from one of their
checks and give that to someone who sill take lots of money from their accounts. Or some other clever way the scammers give him to steal far
more than they can afford.

Even though it appears that he's allowed to give away his CDB money, I
may lie to him and tell him he's not.

**Still I'm surpised, because Social Security is called SSI, and "I"
stands for insurance, and Social Security benefits are, I thought, what
an insurance company would be able to pay based on everyone's
contributions, allowing for some people dying early and some dying late,
but disabilty and childrens disabilty were iirc added on later (later
than 1935) and unless the creation of those programs meant money was
deducted from the payments to retirees, the money was coming from the
general fund, and even though eligibility (only) was based on parents'
SSA contributions (for CDB) and I-don't-know-what is the basis for non-children's disability eligibility, I thought the money itself was
much closer to being a gift from the government and not an insurance
payout, so I thought restrictions on what it could be spent on like with foodstamps would be reasonable and very likely.

--
I think you can tell, but just to be sure:
I am not a lawyer.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Can one assume that government benefits under CDB (Childhood Disability Benefits) which I think is part of Social Security, prohibit that money
from being spent on anyone but the beneficiary? (Either him or his
children, but no children or spouse in this case.) Food stamps have
detailed rules but what about CDB?

(And for that matter, though it's not important here, since the person
I'm asking about doesn't buy these things, but since we're on the
subject, are there likely restrictions on what he can spend it on even
for himself, perhaps not on trips to Aruba, eating out at expensive restaurants, hi-fi equipment, massage parlors? Although he doesn't
waste money or spend on luxuries, if these expenditures are prhoibited,
it might help him to understand the nature of money given by the
government.)

Social Secuirty benefits can I think be spent on anything you want, but
those are considered return of one's own savings. Is CDB the same or different?

If it's not allowed, is it a crime to spend CDB money on something not permitted? Does the money have to be returned?

If it's in the links that follow, I missed it. These are about how to
qualify and what you might get, and I guess they don't give the
restrictions until after you've qualified. But surely, the government
always has a rule against giving away the money they give people, even
to charity, even to a truly good cause. Right? https://www.fletchertilton.com/how-work-affects-ssi-ssdi-and-cdb-eligibility https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10026.pdf https://www.familyvest.com/family-vest/blog/childhood-disabled-beneficiary-benefits-cdb-does-your-child-qualify/

I've looked and found a lot of information online about CDB benefits,
but none of them deal with this. My friend in his 30's is bipolar (and
even with medication it shows bigtime) and he has fallen victim to an
internet scammer, and thinks he would would he helping a sick or dying
woman, already given $300 and is being pressured to give much more. If
I could with confidence tell him that the money he gets from the
government is not his to give, that might stop him or slow him down.
With a couple exceptions, one is not allowed to commit a sin in order to
do a good deed. The money he gets from his parents, he can ask them
if there are restrictions on it. He used to work part time at a menial
job but I don't think he does now so those are his only two sources of
income. (He gets CDB on the basis of his parents' payments to Social
Security.)

--
I think you can tell, but just to be sure:
I am not a lawyer.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 7/3/2024 8:48 AM, micky wrote:

...

**Still I'm surpised, because Social Security is called SSI, and "I"
stands for insurance, and Social Security benefits are, I thought, what
an insurance company would be able to pay based on everyone's
contributions, allowing for some people dying early and some dying late,
but disabilty and childrens disabilty were iirc added on later (later
than 1935) and unless the creation of those programs meant money was
deducted from the payments to retirees, the money was coming from the
general fund, and even though eligibility (only) was based on parents'
SSA contributions (for CDB) and I-don't-know-what is the basis for non-children's disability eligibility, I thought the money itself was
much closer to being a gift from the government and not an insurance
payout, so I thought restrictions on what it could be spent on like with foodstamps would be reasonable and very likely.

SSI is Supplemental Security Income and provides monthly payments to
people with disabilities and older adults who have little or no income
or resources.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

In misc.legal.moderated, on Wed, 3 Jul 2024 08:50:58 -0700 (PDT), Roy <[email protected]> wrote:

On 7/3/2024 8:48 AM, micky wrote:

...



**Still I'm surpised, because Social Security is called SSI, and "I"
stands for insurance, and Social Security benefits are, I thought, what
an insurance company would be able to pay based on everyone's
contributions, allowing for some people dying early and some dying late,
but disabilty and childrens disabilty were iirc added on later (later
than 1935) and unless the creation of those programs meant money was
deducted from the payments to retirees, the money was coming from the
general fund, and even though eligibility (only) was based on parents'
SSA contributions (for CDB) and I-don't-know-what is the basis for
non-children's disability eligibility, I thought the money itself was
much closer to being a gift from the government and not an insurance
payout, so I thought restrictions on what it could be spent on like with
foodstamps would be reasonable and very likely.

SSI is Supplemental Security Income

You're right, and I even knew that, once. I got confused because Social Security is also called insurance and iirc Social Security Insurance,
even if it never gets the SSI abbreviation.

and provides monthly payments to
people with disabilities and older adults who have little or no income
or resources.

I apologize if I said this already but Childeren's Disability Benefits,
CDB, is iirc part of Social Security, only goes to those who start when
they are under 22 years old, and requires at least one parent to have
qualified for Social Security, even if s/he is not collecting it yet.

My friend's parents got him to disable the network/internet capability
of his laptop. He knows there are such scams in the world and he knows
some people lie, but he still thinks they are coming to arrest him. He
is bipolar. He wants to earn a living, marry, have children and he's
smart enoug to know that life is passing him by. It's sad. All of us
whose minds work normally should be happy about that.

--
I think you can tell, but just to be sure:
I am not a lawyer.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)