Terri Ramsey Beavers Should you report food stamp fraud?
If you are a tax-paying citizen and you want to protect your tax dollars, the answer is yes.
If you are exempt from paying taxes, the answer should still be yes. We live in a civilized society with rules that apply to everyone. If there are some who don’t want to live by those rules, there should be consequences.
For every action, there is a reaction.
If you landed on my page from a Google search, chances are you know someone who is committing fraud and you’re not sure how to report them or if you should report them.
Do you know someone who is committing SNAP fraud? If so, you’re in the right place.
If you are unsure what SNAP is, let me give you a little introduction. If you’ve heard of food stamps, they’ve replaced that name with SNAP which stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. If you are wondering if you are eligible for SNAP, head on over to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program link to learn more.
Some people generally need help with groceries. Quality nutrition is important for everyone. There is no shame in receiving help to make sure your body has the proper foods for everything you do including breathing. The shame would be in someone who needed help but was too prideful to accept the help. Pride can be a good thing or in instances such as this, pride can be a bad thing.
Then there are those who are scamming the system by committing SNAP fraud. By this, I mean that they’re not reporting all of their income, or that a spouse lives with them and has an income, and/or they’re selling their SNAP benefits for cash.
These are the kinds of people that we don’t want our tax dollars going to.
Report them. Immediately. SNAP fraud is a crime. Criminal charges can be brought against them. The sooner you report them, the less time they’re allowed to live off of your hard-earned tax dollars.
My mom retired from DFCS and I’m sure she saw her fair share of SNAP fraud, or food stamps fraud as it was called back in the day, but this is my first experience with personally knowing someone who is openly committing SNAP fraud with absolutely no remorse. It just blows my mind how people with no home training act.
After a SNAP fraud investigation, and they do investigate fully and thoroughly, if the person, or in the case of the family in my neighborhood, persons, are found to be guilty, they will either sentence them for 1 to 5 years depending on how long they were receiving the food stamps fraudulently and or make them pay back the SNAP funds by wage garnishment. Theft is a felony. There is no slap on the wrist when it comes to this kind of crime. You do the crime, you serve the time.
Here are a few ways you can report SNAP fraud;
- You can report the fraud to your local police station 👮, or your local DFCS.
- You can report it anonymously online if you live in Georgia by email: inspectorgeneralhotline@dhs.ga.gov.
- Write: USDA Office of Inspector General PO Box 23399 Washington, DC 20026-3399
- Call: (800) 424-9121 (202) 690-1622 (202) 690-1202 (TDD)
- Submit a complaint online: https://usdaoig.oversight.gov/.