ND1208111

Title: Governments Crack Down on Food Stamp Fraud

Description: Both state and federal officials are targeting scams related to food stamps.

Page Content: WASHINGTON, D.C. ? With more Americans receiving food stamps than ever before, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is asking states to be on guard against fraud among recipients and retailers, Stateline.org reports. A record 46 million U.S. residents receive food stamp benefits.

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This week, the agency unveiled new ways states can uncover food stamp fraud, including monitoring Facebook, Craigslist and other social media sites for recipients trying to sell food stamps for cash. Previously, officials had to wait until the sale had gone through before acting, said USDA Under-Secretary Kevin Concannon.

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Now, intent-to-sell carries the same sentence as the actual sale ? that punishment includes being kicked out of the food stamp program. Concannon said Craigslist works closely with federal agencies on stamping out fraud, including listing food stamp sales as prohibited.

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With close to 12 states with bottle deposit laws?and another 23 considering such a bill?a new rule disallows food stamp recipients from ?dumping,? i.e., buying a bottled beverage with food stamps and immediately pouring out the contents for the bottle redemption cash. When caught dumping, recipients would lose their food stamps. With bottle deposit bills being considered in 23 states,

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Officials also are helping food stamp recipients to avoid online scams that offer help in filing out program applications but instead trick recipients into giving credit card numbers. Currently, food stamp fraud is about 1 cent on the dollar.

Content Subject: Operations

Formatted Article Date: December 8, 2011

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