LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Each year, billions of our federal tax dollars go to Electronic Benefit Transfer–or food stamp cards.
The EBT cards are often a lifeline for low-income families who can’t afford groceries.
About one in every seven Nevadans counts on that system to put food on their table.
But it’s a system that’s ripe for fraud.
Thieves are getting savvier when it comes to stealing food from the mouths of those in need.
We spoke to one expert who’s done the numbers, finding food stamp fraud across the country is skyrocketing but the government is ill equipped to track, investigate and prevent it.
The pandemic brought a multi-billion-dollar boost to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program–or SNAP.
“When you have a program that’s gone from $80 billion to $147 billion, it attracts criminals,” said Haywood Talcove, CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions Government Group.
Since March 2020, SNAP participants have gotten an extra monthly payment.
After March 14 of this year, the second payments will stop, but fraud against the program likely won’t.
“Over the last six months at LexisNexis, we’ve seen an alarming attack on the food stamp program,” Talcove said.
“I estimate over the next 12 months, this is going to be approximately a $20 billion national problem. In Nevada alone, I think it’s going to be over $1 billion. And what’s happening is, it’s accelerating rapidly.”
To understand the impact, we need to put a face on the victims of fraud.
Elisabeth Cervantes was struggling to…
