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10A Daily News – Saturday, June 11, 2011 Buyers, sellers of food stamps use Facebook to connect MILWAUKEE (MCT) — When Angel Gunn of Milwaukee wanted to ille- gally buy public food assis- tance benefits on Dec. 28, she just turned to her 299 friends — on Facebook. "Do U anybody have any stamps for sell? If so contact me ASAP thank you," she typed on her wall. Four minutes later, Gunn had a potential taker. In just over five months, she put out four other online requests for "stamps" and "food stamps," though she claims none led to sales. "I didn't know it was that serious," said Gunn, a 29- year-old child care provider who recently had her license revoked. On May 3, Andrew Lovett of Milwaukee put out his own request — "I buy Quest inbox me," he wrote, referring to the Quest debit card used to pay benefits through Wis- consin's $1 billion a year FoodShare program. Within minutes, Lovett also had a taker and soon was posting for his 400- plus Facebook friends a photo of himself behind the wheel of a car with this cap- tion: "In traffic searchin for a Quest card." In an inter- view, Lovett denied buying a card that day, but acknowledged he's done so at other times. A review by the Mil- waukee Journal Sentinel found nine Facebook users in Milwaukee and about 70 altogether nationwide who posted to Facebook seeking to either buy or sell food assistance benefits illegally or help others do so. Many more friends responded, and in some cases, later posts indicated that the sales were made. Even after being con- tacted by the Journal Sen- tinel, none of them set their privacy protection so that the public couldn't read their posts _ and Lovett actually made two more posts seeking to buy Quest cards on May 28. "They're absolutely looking to do something illegal and they know it," said Ed O'Brien, a former Chicago police officer and longtime private investiga- tor of public benefits fraud who looked at the Face- book updates at the news- paper's request. The Journal Sentinel's review exposes another example of how easy it is to illegally sell the state-issued cards and their benefits _ and how little concern those who do it have about get- ting caught. In April, the newspaper reported that nearly 2,000 FoodShare recipients claimed they lost their card six or more times in 2010 and requested replacements _ a sign that the program is being cheat- ed, and one that state offi- cials say they are examin- ing more closely. That's just the start of new scrutiny facing the pro- gram, which is run by the state and counties with fed- eral money. Law enforce- ment and state officials are ing to records obtained by the Journal Sentinel. She has three young children, and her food benefits have varied over the years, total- ing about $600 in March. "I don't get very many," Gunn said of her benefits. "I end up spending cash for food any way it goes." Gunn claimed not to know buying benefits was illegal, even though the state makes this clear in bold letters on the Food- Share application. Recipi- ents have to sign this form when they apply and annu- ally if they renew their application, according to state officials. When Lovett posted on May 3 that he was out dri- ving in Milwaukee, looking for a Quest card, a friend posted, "LOL u funni." "I'm serious," Lovett posted in reply. In a May 25 interview, Lovett said he couldn't close a purchase that day but acknowledged buying benefits on other occasions. Three days later, he made two more Facebook updates seeking Quest cards. "I buy Quest who got it. Let's do business," he post- ed. Lovett said as a truck driver and single father, he found it difficult to support his five children. Buying food benefits at 50 cents on the dollar helps make ends meet, he said. "(I buy them) when I can catch a good deal. I guess I buy them when somebody calls me. Normally some- body calls me and tells me they're selling them," Lovett said. "A lot of things are not legal, but people still do it. It's their life." Sherrie Tussler, execu- tive director of Hunger Task Force in Milwaukee, said that some of the updates that she reviewed appeared criminal and that Food- Share recipients are told clearly that it's illegal to buy and sell the benefits. But Tussler said she also investigating allega- tions that nine Milwaukee County employees stole at least $290,000 from Food- Share over the last five years. And the state is get- ting attention from federal officials and state auditors for what they say is overuse of private contractors in violation of federal rules. Beth Kaplan, a spokes- woman for the state Depart- ment of Health Services, which runs FoodShare, acknowledged that social networks could be used to scam the program. "We have isolated reports of this activity, but no specific client informa- tion that could be investi- gated," Kaplan said. "We take any fraudulent activity very seriously and would investigate any activity that occurs in Wisconsin and would make a referral to law enforcement if we sus- pect any criminal activity." In interviews and the Facebook posts themselves, the scammers say the deals work like this: The buyers typically pay 50 cents on the dollar for the benefits on Quest cards, either taking the card outright or borrow- ing it along with the seller's private PIN number. The buyers get twice the food for their money, and the sellers get cash to use on non-food items. In effect, it's an online version of the in-person solicitations and sales the newspaper found occurring at Milwaukee-area stores. The Journal Sentinel searched Facebook updates for terms associated with food assistance benefits, such as "Quest card," "EBT card," and "food stamps." The searches only turn up postings made by people who allow all Facebook users to view their posts rather than just their friends. It is impossible to know how many more post- ings occur behind privacy walls. The searches revealed offers in Wisconsin and nationwide. At times, the Facebook posts clearly indicated ille- gal sales. For instance on the evening of May 9 a Facebook user identified as Doresha Outing made this post: "Food stamp for sell hit me up asap lol." Outing, who appears from her posts to live in San Diego, posted an hour and a half later that she was "Sold out ... no more food stamps." Outing did not respond to a message sent through Facebook. Some other social media, such as Twitter, turn up mentions of buying and selling food stamps, but Angel Gunn recommends Facebook. Responding on March 28 to a friend on Facebook who said she was looking to buy food stamps, Gunn had this advice: "THE ONLY (THING) U GOTTA DO IS POST IT ON HERE WATCH HOW MANY RESPONSES COME THRU." And as it turned out, within 40 minutes Gunn had an answer to an earlier request she had made for food stamps to buy. In an interview, Gunn claimed she had never man- aged to buy FoodShare benefits despite her repeat- ed Facebook updates. She said she sought to buy FoodShare benefits to help purchase groceries for her- self and her family because her own benefits through the program weren't enough. Gunn first received pub- licly funded food assistance in 1999 and has been con- sistently collecting food benefits since 2001, accord- believes the vast majority of recipients are honest and that fraud is the exception. She said state officials should focus on the few violators and avoid actions to fight fraud that would end up hurting the majority of recipients who truly qualify for the program and need it to feed their fami- lies. "It doesn't make sense to hurt the program because of a few people," she said. Tussler said that some poor recipients make the bad bargain of selling their benefits for less than they're worth because they have to scrape together cash to pay rent or fix a car to get to work. There were signs of that in some of the Facebook updates the newspaper reviewed. For instance, Dwight Morris of Sioux City, Iowa, posted on May 4 that he needed to sell his benefits at 50 cents on the dollar to help pay for a car repair. "Damn! Who wants 2 buy sum ebt? We gotta get the car fixd, 100 4 50 any takerz, holla," Morris post- ed. Morris did not respond to a message sent through Facebook. COMFORT SERVICE INC. 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