Posted on 02/18/2019 8:30:36 PM PST by bitt
According to a new report produced by the Government and Accountability Office (GAO), at least $1 billion in food stamp benefits are "trafficked annually," meaning they are fraudulently used. The extent of the fraud is uncertain, the GAO warns, estimating the abuse of the program could be as high as $4.7 billion.
About 20 million lower-income households receive benefits from the $64 billion Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, to buy food. But GAO found that instead of being used for food, many stores are defrauding the program by "selling" cash instead of food.
"For example, a store might give a person $50 in exchange for $100 in benefits – then pocket the difference," GAO explains.
The Food Nutrition Service (FNS) within the U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees SNAP and is responsible for authorizing and overseeing retailers.
The fraud, known as "retailer trafficking," costs taxpayers at least $1 billion. However, the real cost could be "anywhere from $960 million to $4.7 billion," the GAO adds.
The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank advocating reform, launched a "Stop the Scam initiative" to raise awareness of the widespread problem.
"Welfare fraud is one of the biggest untold stories of the last decade, robbing resources from the truly needy and eroding public trust in the integrity of our welfare programs," Sam Adolphsen, vice president of executive affairs at FGA, said in a statement. "While the bad-actor food stamp retailers exposed in this GAO report are in part to blame, we must not lose sight of the accountability that falls upon the food stamp recipient willing to commit fraud and abuse the system."
(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...
p
p
The ‘miracle’ of socialism.
Yeah, at a minimum.
Get back to me when program beneficiaries are required to seek employment, are drug tested quarterly, and audited yearly.
Get back to me when their nails, hair, cell phones, and rims cause them to lose benefits.
just like that ass*ole who 3 weeks ago who held the line while he buys his buddy $20 worth of chips using an EBT card and drives a BMW..
That’d build a lot of wall.
Another government program out of control and exploited....say it ain’t so!!!
Sickening.
Annually?
Probably more like monthly.
I don’t understand how the United States has lasted so long.
Somewhere between 1 and 4.7 billion... tells me something. It tells me they have no F-ing clue and it could be 10 Billion.
Most fraud is by criminals:
Give card and pin to criminal, criminal gives money or drugs @ 50%.
Next month repeat etc.
Criminal takes card and buys a bunch of a popular procuct and sells it to local stores for more profit.
Fraud and corruption. The roots of Democrat Party power.
Restaurant and food cart owners are also a problem. What should happen is poor people should get cans of beans, vegetables, boxes of rice and pasta, ground pork and chicken.
Spend a hundred million on enforcement and any savings go toward the fence.
A sack of flour, a bag of beans, a block of cheese . . .
Looks like they found enough money to build a wall...
takes whole bunches of taxpayer monies to keep politicians in office
And the Somalians are really adept at exploiting education "training" funds and "daycare" funds, collecting millions and millions by exploiting these programs. As has been pointed out before, the day EBT is turned off, you better be well stocked with ammunition because the hungry tribesmen will be coming for your stuff.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.