Food Stamp/SNAP Fraud

It’s hard to imagine how people can steal food from the mouths of disadvantaged babies and their mothers, but it happens. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, for Women, Infants and Children, also known as WIC, is a $6.3...

Public assistance programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, use taxpayer dollars to help the neediest among us get through hard times. It’s part of the safety net that makes for a civilized society—something all Americans are entitled to when their income falls...

A couple who owned and operated a small convenience store in Barrigada, Guam told a judge they were just trying to help by extending credit to their customers who didn’t have enough money at the end of each month to purchase food. While they...

Some people just don’t know when to quit. A Newark, N.J., store owner had already been banned from participating in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program when he put his grocery store in another person’s name to get back into swindling the federal program....

One of the most common food stamp fraud schemes involves retailers who conduct fraudulent transactions with food stamp beneficiaries through their electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards. A Jacksonville, Florida couple followed the food stamp fraud crowd and masterminded a $257,000 scam through two convenience...

Sometimes, asking for favors is difficult. It can be awkward to request help when your favor requires hard work like moving furniture. Or a friend or family member might be inconvenienced when you ask for a ride to a busy metropolitan airport in the...

Irregularities are usually not a good thing. The D.C. Department of Human Services discovered some irregularities in welfare payments and reported their findings to the D.C. inspector general’s office. An in-depth investigation revealed that a Washington, D.C. public servant committed food stamp fraud by...

Four men in Lansing, Mich., who used their Speedwagon party store to defraud the federal food stamp program became familiar with a paddywagon after law enforcement caught up with them. Wine, beer, tobacco and food stamps are not usually associated together....

A woman in Medford, Mass., admitted to lying so she could receive $108,288 in Social Security, Medicare and MassHealth benefits and food stamps over a 10-year period. (SO ambitious!). She was subsequently charged for her Food Stamp, Social Security and Medicare fraud scheme (Three...

Business owners usually rely on precise pricing methods and high-volume sales to make a profit. (The owner of a Newark, New Jersey-based deli-owner took a different approach to profit in today’s fraud article.) She made nearly $900,000 through food stamp fraud when she exchanged Supplemental Nutrition...