I went undercover in Seattle to expose food stamp (EBT) fraud and filmed a $120 EBT card being rung up for one can of Spam and a pack of sushi. A tip from a man on the street and the legendary @choeshow led us to a market, a confrontation on camera, and a stolen gun that sent a mob after our security.
Food stamps are supposed to feed people who are struggling. On the streets of Seattle, people told us EBT cards get sold for cash at a fraction of their value, with the cash often going straight to drugs, and we found cards scattered through homeless encampments. I teamed up with citizen journalists Jonathan Choe, Grant and Darren to go undercover as sellers, follow the trail, and see who is allegedly cashing in on a program paid for with your tax dollars.
- Anyone with an EBT card comes in and buys an item
- The store adjusts the price of that item to the amount of money that’s on the person’s EBT card
- The store gives the person 50 cents on the dollar for the balance on the EBT card
you have $120 on your EBT card, you exchange it for $60 cash and the store pockets the rest of the money for doing the transaction
Food stamps are supposed to feed people who are struggling. On the streets of Seattle, people told us EBT cards get sold for cash at a fraction of their value, with the cash often going straight to drugs, and we found cards scattered through homeless encampments. I teamed up with citizen journalists Jonathan Choe, Grant and Darren to go undercover as sellers, follow the trail, and see who is allegedly cashing in on a program paid for with your tax dollars.
- Anyone with an EBT card comes in and buys an item
- The store adjusts the price of that item to the amount of money that’s on the person’s EBT card
- The store gives the person 50 cents on the dollar for the balance on the EBT card
you have $120 on your EBT card, you exchange it for $60 cash and the store pockets the rest of the money for doing the transaction
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