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Americans Stealing from Americans

By A Clear Vision, Government Entitlements, Immigration, SNAP, Welfare Leave a comment
Why food stamp fraud is “fairly rampant” at corner stores in some Chicago neighborhoods. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fraud is exchanging benefits for cash, which is called trafficking, and it is against the law. It happens when someone lies on their application to get benefits, or to get more benefits than they are supposed to get. It also occurs when a retailer has been disqualified from the program for past abuse and lies on the application to get in the program again.

The federal government is aggressively fighting SNAP trafficking. The USDA aggressively acts to control trafficking by using SNAP purchase data to identify suspicious transaction patterns, conducting undercover investigations, and collaborating with other investigative agencies.

The USDA is using the latest technology to track and control abuse of SNAP benefits. They are using the electronic “audit trail” from EBT transactions to identify trafficking and other suspicious activity. The Anti-Fraud Locator using EBT Retailer Transactions (ALERT) system monitors electronic transaction activity and identifies suspicious stores for analysis and investigation.

FNS is investigating SNAP Violators

FNS has a dedicated more than 100 analysts and investigators across the country to ensure SNAP retailer compliance. They analyze retailer data, conduct undercover investigations, and process cases, including fines and administrative disqualifications, against violating retailers. FNS also works with State law enforcement authorities to provide them with SNAP benefits that are used in sting operations, supporting anti-trafficking actions at the local level.

In 2012, these 100 analysts and investigators reviewed more than 15,000 stores and conducted nearly 4,500 undercover investigations. 1,400 stores were permanently disqualified for trafficking and 700 stores were sanctioned for other violations such as the sale of ineligible items. SNAP investigations resulted in 342 convictions, including many multi-year prison terms for the most serious offenses, and approximately $57.7 million in monetary results.

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Congressional Involvement

Congressional Republicans demanded cuts to the $100 billion food stamp swindle. They examined every aspect of it including whether people should be allowed to buy candy bars and energy drinks with the aid, and who qualifies for help that averages out to more than $150 per month for one person.

An informal economy in which food stamps are turned into cash or used to buy liquor, gasoline or other items besides food have been used to argue that the program is out of control. The black-market accounts for more than 1 percent of the total food stamp program which is less fraud Medicare and Medicaid.

The administration’s final 2018 budget proposal calls for a reduction of more than $190 billion over the next ten years in federal spending on food stamps. Now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the program spent $70.9 billion in 2016 addressing poverty and food insecurity.

Abuse occurs in unlikely corners such as the little country store that Elbert Eugene Shinholster, 77, opened in the 1980s. It did not start out as a criminal enterprise, but this tiny store off a country road in the middle of Georgia was the center of a $4.6 million in food stamp fraud. As poverty in Wilkinson County worsened, Mr. Shinholster began swiping customers’ electronic benefits cards and handing over a mix of groceries and cash to help people get by. Eventually people were coming in just for the cash. He kept 30 cents on the dollar for himself.

I know what I was doing was against the law, but I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong,  he said before he began serving a three-year sentence in a federal prison.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is another example of how big government is redistributing the wealth of taxpaying Americans to non-taxpayers in America. Americans have become weak and are willing to accept this as the “New Normal.” The country cannot be strong when it continues to increase handouts instead of hand-ups. It will take a majority of the more than 320 million American citizens to “Drain the American Swamp.”

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