IG: Welfare Recipients Traded Food Stamps for Cash to Buy Drugs and Guns: Food Stamp Program Doesn’t Check SSNs of Recipients

It is more prevelent to see SNAP used for drugs, alcohol, gambling than at ‘fraudulent exchanges’ at grocery stores.

USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong. (USDA Photo)

(CNSNews.com) — Some of the record total of 46.3 millions recipients of food stamps–a federal welfare program–have traded their benefits at a discount with corrupt retailers to get cash to buy drugs and weapons, the inspector general (IG) for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) told Congress today.
The IG testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about fraud affecting the USDA-administered food stamp program, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) component is charged with handling SNAP.
USDA IG Phyllis Fong highlighted food stamp trafficking, which refers to the sale or purchase of food stamp benefits for monetary gain, which is punishable by disqualification from receiving future benefits, fines, and criminal prosecution.
“In terms of fraud, we have seen many types of trafficking in SNAP benefits. By giving a recipient $50 in cash for $100 in benefits, an unscrupulous retailer can make a significant profit; recipients, of course, are then able to spend the cash however they like,” said Fong in her prepared remarks.
“In some cases, recipients have exchanged benefits for drugs, weapons, and other contraband,” she said. “When trafficking occurs unchecked, families do not receive the intended nutritional assistance, and unscrupulous retailers profit at the expense of the American public.”
The IG also alerted House members about the USDA not vetting some recipients’ Social Security numbers when checking for program eligibility, which in turn may allow them to defraud SNAP of millions in taxpayer funds each month.

Food Stamp Program Doesn’t Check SSNs of Some Recipients

(CNSNews.com)— The U.S. Department of Agriculture-administered food stamp program does not check the Social Security Number (SSNs) of some of its 46.3 million recipients, many of whom are using the numbers of dead people and invalid SSNs to get benefits potentially totaling $1.1 million a month, according to a government audit.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the USDA “also has been looking at recipients who misrepresent themselves to receive benefits,” testified USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today. “Recently, OIG has conducted a series of audits of 10 States to assess how they used participant databases to identify potentially fraudulent recipients, and we have completed work in 5 States.”

“Our analysis of the databases that States check as part of their role in ensuring recipient eligibility revealed that a total of 8,594 recipients in the 5 States were receiving potential improper payments,” said Fong. “Some of these recipients were using the Social Security numbers of deceased individuals, or otherwise invalid Social Security numbers, while others were receiving benefits in more than one State. In total, we estimate that these recipients could be receiving about $1.1 million a month.”