When I think of people using food stamps I think of the two types of people that end up using them…the people that use them for a temporary amount of time and the people that make them a lifestyle subsidy.
The people that use them for a temporary amount of time are the type of folks that will sit down with the grocery ad in the newspaper and try to find the sales that the can maximize the value of to stretch the amount of money that they are given. Then, the second that they are able to not have to use the food stamps they will do so.
Then we get to the type of people that use them as the lifestyle subsidy. They are the type of people that will try to suck the system dry. They are the type that will buy a 20 dollar a pound lobster and pay for it using food stamps.
They are also the type of people that will do something that happened a couple of years ago at a Walmart. As the story goes there was a Walmart whose self checkout wasn’t subtracting EBT transactions for customers who were using EBT cards. So these people would look at their balance after spending whatever they spent on groceries and notice that it has not gone down one cent.
So, they kept going back and going back again. They called their friends and they did it. This went on for several hours because the Walmart employees even if they noticed couldn’t do anything because there had to be someone from the state to reset a setting in the self checkout machines. God only knows how much was spent that just went to the wind because someone took advantage of something that was supposed to be designed to help them and nothing more.
Via Breitbart:
Trump administration officials have been making efforts throughout the year to keep people from relying on food stamps and other forms of welfare, but they have also made strides in taking down criminals committing food stamp fraud for financial gain.
The food stamp program is a federally-funded program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and federal investigators with the agency are most often the ones who catch those engaged in fraudulent activities.
Sometimes, these investigations can occur at the state level because state agencies are responsible for administering welfare programs such as food stamps.
Investigators often uncover millions of dollars worth of food stamp fraud, mostly from people who run convenience stores in low-income areas where many customers receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
To show how many millions of dollars these criminals have stolen from the federal government in 2018, here are the ten biggest takedowns of food stamp fraud this year.
1. Baltimore Shopkeeper Gets 27 Months in Prison, Owes $1.5M for Food Stamp Fraud
A Baltimore shopkeeper got caught trafficking $1,532,642 in food stamps, prompting a judge to sentence him in January to 27 months in federal prison and three years supervised release. The judge also ordered him to pay back the money he stole to the federal government.
2. Florida Officials Bust Nearly 200 for Food Stamp Fraud in Undercover Investigation
Florida law enforcement officials busted nearly 200 people in March for food stamp fraud while conducting an undercover law enforcement investigation. Detectives say they found up to 390 fraudulent transactions over six months.
3. Detroit Shopkeeper Pleads Guilty to Running $2 Million Food Stamp Fraud
A Detroit shopkeeper pleaded guilty in March to running a $2 million food stamp fraud scheme where he allowed customers receiving SNAP benefits to trade them for cash. As part of his plea deal, he agreed to pay back the $2.3 million he stole through food stamp, Medicaid, and bank fraud.
4. South Carolina Man Sentenced to 27 Months, Owes $1 Million for Food Stamp Fraud
A judge sentenced a South Carolina man to 27 months in prison in March for running a $1 million food stamp racket where he allowed customers to trade their SNAP benefits for cash. The judge also ordered the man to pay back the $1,039,981.75 he stole from the federal government.
5. Investigators Discover $8.4 Million Food Stamp Fraud in Ohio
Federal investigators conducted a search warrant of an Ohio meat delivery business, uncovering $8.4 million in fraudulent SNAP transactions that were conducted at the store between August 2011 and September 2017.
6. Florida Welfare Agency Fires 31 Employees for Food Stamp Fraud
Florida’s welfare agency fired 31 employees in August, accusing them of fraudulently obtaining food stamp benefits set aside for disaster victims. The agency took down the suspected fraudsters working in the agency after conducting an internal investigation.