Posted on 06/30/2017 6:04:43 AM PDT by davikkm
A massive portion of Obamaphone recipients are receiving the benefit after lying on their applications, according to a new 90-page report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
An undercover sting operation showed ineligible applications were approved 63 percent of the time, and a review that found that 36 to 65 percent of beneficiaries in various categories had lied in easily-detectable ways but were approved anyway.
The fraud reached unheard-of proportions because the Federal Communications Commission let the task of screening for eligibility fall to phone companies that profit off of enrolling as many people as possible.
GAO undercover investigators applied for free government phones 19 times using criteria that should have been rejected, and “we were approved to receive Lifeline services by 12 of the 19 Lifeline providers using fictitious eligibility documentation.”
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Program wasn’t meant to be controlled, Oidiot expanded it for votes
Good DemocRats. Isn’t it pretty???
Pull the plug !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yep. Why have precinct captains walk around and hand out cigarettes when you can have the mobile carriers hand out free phones in poor neighborhoods? The beauty of it is OUR tax money was used to buy votes. Which party do you suppose benefitted from this expensive and corrupt scam?
This program needs to end.
TracFone:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/5/obama-crony-wins-contract-to-give-phones-to-jobles/
Carlos Slim says you won’t read that in the NYT.
Carlos made his billion$ off cell phones and especially obamaphone$.
I object to the free phones in part because they are obviously employed as facilitating communications for teenaged mall mobs.
I am bothered that this does not shock me even a little.
The only purpose of the program is to inflate the sales figures of the phone manufacturers. Complaining about Obamaphone fraud is like complaining about fraud in a school lunch program.
“Pull the plug...”
Exactly.
Call the carrier...cancel the contract on 100%...make everyone re-apply
Cancel the program and give people 2 weeks to reapply. If caught lying on an application, a 1 one year prison sentence and/or $5,000 fine is the punishment.
In those 2 weeks, 90% will not renew.
Neither me. Sometimes assumptions are correct, and who hasn’t assumed this ever since Obola braodened the program, which was originally supposed to be a way to allow poor people to access 911?
Have you ever seen or used an Obamaphone? Pretty much useless. Way down my list of things to be outraged over.
Quelle Surprise!
I object to the free phones in part because they are obviously employed as facilitating communications for teenaged mall mobs.
_____________
That’s exactly right. If they have to give out phones, make them call only. No data. No text.
Fraud in government benefits is not an accident. It’s an industry. Ds in congress do everything they can to help individuals commit fraud - including funding groups who help people fill out forms “properly” to qualify, and encouraging more people to join the program. Some will admit it’s their way of getting around republican’s resistance to redistributing wealth or reparations - besides, republicans support corporate welfare fraud.
And now Amazon and other companies are joining the effort to grow the programs. I hear a radio ad a few times a day “If your family qualifies for SNAP, you may be eligible for a XX% discount.”. Some of the population will think
* I don’t want this job offer if it takes me out of SNAP and discounts
* I can quit my job and get SNAP + Amazon Prime + ...
* My friend knows where to get help applying for SNAP even if I don’t qualify. It wasn’t worth it for SNAP alone (felt like a lie). But SANP and discounts from these companies - where do I go?
Ds, Amazon, and other companies are doing what they can to provide the equivalent of “basic income”. While robots will hurt low-skilled jobs, incentivizing low-skilled workers to not work will also hurt. Many won’t want to gain skills. And entrepreneurs won’t have a pool of low-skilled workers to find a use for since those people won’t work even if the jobs are created.
I pay out the wazoo for my cell phone.
Welfare is out of control. Completely out of control.
a review that found that 36 to 65 percent of beneficiaries in various categories had lied in easily-detectable ways but were approved anyway.
Sounds like a simple Law Enforcement issue to me. Charge them with Fraud, Arrest and Prosecute them and seize their assets as profits of a “criminal enterprise”, problem solved.
Or do those laws only apply to regular citizens??
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