Inspector General Highlights Pennsylvania's Efforts to Fight Fraud, Trafficking in Food Stamp Program

HARRISBURG, Pa., March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania's efforts to protect the integrity of the food stamp program include a strong focus on curbing trafficking in benefit cards and fraud at the retail level, Inspector General Kenya Mann Faulkner today told a Congressional panel in Washington, D.C.

Faulkner testified before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, which is examining fraud within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, more commonly known as food stamps.

"Governor Tom Corbett believes that it is important for Pennsylvania to provide health and human services, such as SNAP, to its truly deserving citizens," Faulkner said. "Individuals who engage in fraud take away those limited resources from the neediest of Pennsylvanians."

Faulkner said the Office of Inspector General (OIG) works closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Services division, which oversees the SNAP program, and also the Department of Public Welfare, which administers SNAP at the state level.

In addition to its efforts to combat SNAP fraud at the application stage or through prosecuting overpayments, the OIG focuses on fraud involving recipients who sell or exchange their SNAP benefits to negotiate them into cash, services, credit or anything other than food, which is defined as "SNAP trafficking," Faulkner testified.

In this type of scheme, a retailer, working with a customer, will transact SNAP benefits through an Electronic Benefits Transfer, or EBT, card -- but instead of the customer receiving food, the vendor and cardholder simply split the cash.

"The OIG's responsibility in its partnership with the USDA is to actively pursue the recipients who traffic their benefits and hold them individually accountable for their actions; to include criminal prosecution, repayment of illegally transacted benefits, and program disqualification," Faulkner explained.  

In the 2010-11 fiscal year, the Office of Inspector General conducted 584 SNAP trafficking investigations. These resulted in 158 administrative hearings, with total restitution of $258,375. In addition, 77 recipients who committed SNAP trafficking were disqualified, which resulted in significant additional cost savings.

The Office of Inspector General's Bureau of Fraud Prevention and Prosecution is responsible for investigating welfare fraud and conducting collection activities for programs administered by, or contracted through, the Department of Public Welfare. 

The Office of Inspector General also relies on tips from concerned citizens. To report suspected fraud, call the Welfare Fraud Tipline at 1-800-932-0582. Callers may remain anonymous.

For more information or to read the full testimony, visit the Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General online at www.oig.state.pa.us.

Media contact: Richard S. Delia, 717-787-6835

SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General