[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/ID\/37\/how-does-food-stamps-fraud-happen#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/ID\/37\/how-does-food-stamps-fraud-happen","headline":"How Does Food Stamps Fraud Happen?","name":"How Does Food Stamps Fraud Happen?","description":"With any program there will always be individuals who try and fraud the system. And with food stamps constantly being in the spotlight, fraud in that program is under particularly heavy scrutiny.","datePublished":"2018-07-06","dateModified":"2018-07-29","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/author\/admin#Person","name":"admin","url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/author\/admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26111862ca029071a00a76fae48c51b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26111862ca029071a00a76fae48c51b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"FoodStamps.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","width":100,"height":100},"url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/ID\/37\/how-does-food-stamps-fraud-happen","about":["Foodstamp Tactics"],"wordCount":602,"keywords":["37"],"articleBody":"With any program, no matter what it is, there\u2019ll always be individuals who try and fraud the system. And with food stamps constantly being in the spotlight, fraud in that program is under particularly heavy scrutiny.Selling EBT CardsOne of the most common forms of food stamps fraud is listing an EBT card for sale, such as the recent spate last year on Craigslist. Food stamps recipients would offer up their EBT cards for cash, often taking a bit of a hit just so they could pocket the money. This is illegal, of course, as only users to whom the cards are registered are suppose to be using them. This is called food stamp trafficking, even though food rarely passes hands.Application DishonestyAnother common form of food stamps fraud is blatant lying on the application so as to get extra benefits, or even benefits when none would usually apply. In theory, the application process is supposed to vet the honest from the dishonest, but there are always people who are \u201cskilled\u201d enough to fudge the facts in their favor.Erroneous PaymentsLast October, two Walmart stores in Louisiana experienced a glitch with EBT cards that caused them to have unlimited balances. Once shoppers cottoned on to this, they raided the shelves as furiously as though there was an impending hurricane; when the mistake was discovered and corrected, and shoppers stuck with their regular balances, they abandoned their carts en masse. These kinds of glitches don\u2019t happen often, but taking advantage of them is technically fraud.Stores and ShopsIndependent grocery stores aren\u2019t monitored quite as closely as bigger chains, but not because legal authorities give them a free pass. Instead, shops in rural areas are just harder to monitor because they\u2019re out of the way and tend to fly under the radar. But some stores accept EBT cards and give back cash along with groceries, often taking a cut for themselves; they may also offer the shopper products that can\u2019t be bought with food stamps. Though shopkeepers may see this as aiding the impoverished, it does fall outside of the legal confines of the SNAP program.Ignoring Other OptionsPeople who apply for food stamps are\u00a0supposed\u00a0to be using them to supplement their grocery budgets, not using EBT cards as a replacement for their own money. And yet, that\u2019s what a small portion of recipients are doing by refusing to get work when they\u00a0could. This isn\u2019t meant to include the population that has genuine difficulties in obtaining a well-paying job, but rather the \u201cLobster Queens\u201d and \u201cSurfer Dudes\u201d who proudly flaunt their unemployed status as a way of living a high life on the taxpayer\u2019s dime.Actions Against FraudThe United States Department of Agriculture monitors very closely the use and abuse of food stamps fraud. They use technology to track EBT cards and how they\u2019re used, employing an electronic \u201caudit trail\u201d to highlight trafficking or other forms of fraud.As well, they also employ more than 100 analysts and investigators who are specially trained to recognize SNAP fraud, such as going undercover in sting operations. In 2012, for example, they looked at more than 15,000 stores, performed 4,500 undercover operations, permanently disqualified 1,400 stores, sanctioned almost 700, and laid 342 convictions to the tune of $57.7 million.The food stamps program might not be perfect and suffer from fraud each year, but authorities do their best to try and halt the many ways it can happen."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ID","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/\/ID\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"37","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/\/ID\/\/37\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"How Does Food Stamps Fraud Happen?","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/ID\/37\/how-does-food-stamps-fraud-happen#breadcrumbitem"}]}]