The federal government is moving to crack down on a bizarre form of food-stamp fraud that’s flushing away taxpayer dollars.
The scam is called “water dumping.” It works as follows: Food stamp recipients use their benefits to purchase water bottles and from there promptly dump the water out and redeem the bottles for cash.
It takes dedication to make any measurable profit off this. But it is a waste of water and a waste of taxpayer resources, not to mention an abuse of the “bottle deposit” system. And the Department of Agriculture is trying to put a stop to it.
Under a proposed rule, the government would treat “water dumping” as a trafficking offense and be allowed to disqualify from the food-stamp rolls anybody caught doing it. The comment period ended Friday, and the USDA is looking to finalize the rule by the end of the year.
“They’re clearly abusing the program, and that’s just not tolerable to us,” USDA spokeswoman Jean Daniel said.
The fraud is difficult to track, as officials have to rely on store owners and vigilant citizens to report it to authorities. Daniel said she couldn’t put a figure on how much the scam has cost the food stamp program, though she noted it’s concentrated in a handful of states.
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7 Responses
I believe that when you pay for soda or water with food stamps, the bottle deposit is automatically waved.
I’m surprised that this even pays for the foodstamp owner. Can’t he figure a way to buy items and resell for a bigger profit then a 5 cent return on each bottle purchased?
or better yet buy stuff and return it to the store and they’ll give you a cash refund
This makes no sense at all. A person gets barely enough food stamps for food to eat for a month. How can one waste his stamps on water? The little one gets for a bottle is not worth the time and effort involved.
I wonder if the more enterprising fraudsters would take the bottles and sell them along the highways for a buck each
Why are they even allowed to purchase ANY type of beverage, except for milk, is beyond me. I can’t believe the governments allows people to purchase bottled water, when tap water is just as good. That is wasteful spending at it’s finest.
dont understand the isue they are being given the $ to spend anyway so the store gets the paid for the water and the guy gets some money back in his pocket and spends it back into the economy what could be better