Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Minnesota

Minnesota targets food stamp fraud, By Maya Rao, June 1, 2012, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “It’s simple to scam the food stamp program in Minnesota: Sell a benefit card for cash, walk into a county social services office, report the card lost or stolen, and get a new one on the spot. The state issues so many replacements — ranking fourth in the nation for the number of food benefit recipients requesting at least four new cards in a year — that the federal government sent a letter to the Minnesota Department of Human Services this spring highlighting the high numbers as a sign of possible illegal behavior. Minnesota is moving to address the problem. By September, the state will ship food benefit cards by mail — rather than providing them over the counter — and those cards will include the recipient’s name. The state also supports the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposal to allow states to more closely monitor recipients who ask for an excessive number of replacement cards, known as EBT cards…”