food-stamps

 

Honestly, I never knew there was such a term. Throughout my life, I oftentimes seen people exchange food stamps or EBT cards for cash. Heck, I’ve even purchased a few.  The exchange is an illegal act on the part of the benefiter. But, I had no idea that the government called this “food stamp trafficking.”  Apparently, this has become an epidemic and the Agriculture Department has been investigating the problem.

 

According to an article on Fox News, people are in desperate need of cash and are selling food stamps illegally back to stores.

 

“The percentage of Americans selling their food stamps back to stores for cash has increased by 30 percent over the past several years, according to a new Agriculture Department study.

 

 

The study on food stamps trafficking — which the agency said included “covert investigation” in stores — compared the periods of 2006 -2008 to 2009 -2011.

 

Despite the increase, trafficking has declined since the 1990s, when the rate was nearly 4 percent of food stamps, also known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs benefits.

 

The total amount of SNAP benefits is now at roughly $858 million, compared to $330 million annually in the 2006-2008 period.

 

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The increase reflects the overall growth in SNAP participation and benefits, the agency said in the August 2013 report.

 

Recipients typically sell back their benefits at a discount, according to the agency, which said its undercover investigations and research into electronic SNAP transactions focused on stores that showed “suspicious activities.”

 

 

So this means that the stores that are purchasing the stamps are probably using the stamps for personal purchases and/or to charge other customers an up-price. However store owners are handling it, the government is tracking perpetrators down. But the sad news is that this has been going on for years in the streets. Hand-to-hand food stamp sells have been going on for years. It will be interesting to see how the government will be able to regulate the SNAP benefits.