Monterey, CA Food Stamp Program Cracking Down On Fraud.
by Richard Kuehn on 06/02/12
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Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King
City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And
Soledad California
It was disheartening to read in the Monterey
Herald that there is massive fraud going on with food stamps, depriving
those that are needy of their benefits. The
government has already made massive cuts to the food stamp program and with
the budget crisis, it's likely there will be more to come. The scam currently involves someone applying
for foods stamps, selling their benefit cards for cash or on eBay or
Craigslist, and then asking the government for replacement cards. Unbelievably, they can do this over and over
again. Finally, the Agriculture
Department is proposing new rules which would give more power to the states to
investigate these fraud cases. Those who
seek more than three replacement cards per year will be required to give formal
explanations, and those who don't comply will be denied further cards. Why this has been able to go on for years, I
don't know. "Up to this point, the
state's hands have been tied unless they absolutely suspected fraudulent
activity," Kevin Concannon, the Undersecretary for the Department of
Agriculture, told the Monterey Herald. I
hope the rules are implemented soon.
Food stamp fraud cost taxpayers roughly $750 million per year, about 1%
of the $75 billion annual budget.
