Selling food stamps on Craigslist is nothing too new, and a quick search on different cities pulls up dozens of ads. For example, a post from February 5th in Atlanta, Georgia titled “Needing to buy food stamps—$150” has the following message:
Meanwhile, a February 11th post from Eric in Philadelphia has this to say:
Reading these ads—and others—is more than just scoffing at the food stamps fraud that’s being committed on a daily basis; these people are poor and desperate and just about willing to sell anything they can so they can feed themselves and their families, even if it means going without the things that are vital to getting a job (e.g. a phone and a phone number).
The Twitterverse is an interesting place to look at food stamps being sold because it happens in real time. And it’s also a platform where you’re not limited to searching by city, so you can see what’s happening in the whole country all at once.
”Miss Lady” from apparently Houston uses the twitter handle @MsLadyJoycelynn, has over 8,000 followers, and sent out a tweet on February 21st asking, “Anybody know anyone in Houston selling food stamps?” It was retweeted, which only serves to perpetuate the fraud being committed. It’s also a risky venture, because authorities in charge of eliminating fraud can easily create a Twitter handle and bait the seller.
Going on the world’s most popular social media platform quickly turns up three separate pages for food stamps, each one as dismaying as the next. For example, one page is called “How u gone sell all yo food stamps, n aint no food in yo house?” This page features a whole lot of swearing and coarse language, with the occasional plea for food stamps thrown in.
The other two pages are a mixture of disgust and pity, with one page called “ Selling Food Stamps For Crack”, which seems to mostly be a forum for people to snigger at the problem and trade foul-mouthed insults. But the page that really speaks to the plight of the impoverished is called “Who Got Some Food Stamps 4 Sale?” Here, users can’t hide how much they need money.
Selling food stamps may be illegal—regardless of where it takes place—but its move to social media shows how savvy SNAP recipients have become, and what lengths they’re willing to go to in order to get by.
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