One wonders if your friendly street corner crack dealer can swipe your EBT card as the Friendly Grocery Store and have us pay for the high?
I didn’t think about this but after pondering for a minute, I am going to say absolutely they can. It is a little machine and they can even name it something like “Lifestyle choice” for the bill and nobody would be the wiser.
Just ONE of hunfreds and hundreds of examples on google, and it likely barely touches the surface.
EBT Card Scam Shut Down In Lynn
December 13, 2011
“It was pretty straight-forward,” says Giles. “You need cash, come down here and trade your food stamps for cash.”
During a yearlong investigation, undercover police say they discovered a scheme where stores not only bought EBT cards at half price, but also hooked up card sellers with crack cocaine dealers.
According to prosecutors, some of the stores did over half a million dollars in EBT fraud during the last 18 months alone.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/12/13/ebt-card-scam-shut-down-in-lynn/