Last Updated on: 29th July 2023, 07:26 pm

What Is Welfare Fraud?
Welfare fraud comes in many forms. It’s often one of the easiest crimes to commit if you are looking for a way to obtain public assistance and are in need of money or food. In most states, welfare fraud results in the same punishments as theft because you are essentially stealing from the government whether it’s the city, county, or state. Ronald Reagan once described a woman as the “welfare queen”because she did numerous things to obtain benefits from welfare services. Because of this woman, the welfare system was changed to reduce benefits and to make it a bit more difficult to obtain benefits. However, it’s not impossible to commit fraud if you use certain information.

To understand fraud, you need to understand a bit about welfare. It’s often regarded as food stamp or medical benefits to assist people when they aren’t working or if they are only making a minimal amount of money to support the family. Housing is another type of welfare benefit that can be received. Each state uses their own welfare system, but funds are usually given to each state by the federal government. In simple terms, welfare fraud is committed any time you try to obtain services by lying about your personal information. You could lie about your income, reporting that you don’t make as much as you actually do in order to obtain benefits or to get more benefits than you should. Another way that you could commit fraud is by reporting that more people live in the home than there are. Many people will commit this kind of fraud and divide the benefits with the people who let the applicant use the information about them because a social security number is usually required to obtain welfare benefits.

One way that you could commit welfare fraud that is rather common among recipients is not reporting changes that occur. Most states require that you report any changes in income, the number of people living in the home or any address changes as soon as possible. In most instances, you have 10 days to report changes. If these changes aren’t reported in a timely manner, it can be construed as welfare fraud because the amount of the benefits that you receive might increase or decrease based on the correct information. Some states will punish someone who has committed welfare fraud in the same way that they would if that person committed theft or larceny.

How Is Welfare Fraud Punished?
There are some states that have workers who will make home visits to check on the information that applicants provide. These workers will examine everything in the home to see if it matches what has been reported. If the person doesn’t agree to the search, then benefits can be denied or revoked. Any evidence that suggests welfare fraud is then given to the department of social services and the criminal division. Most states consider welfare fraud a misdemeanor. However, if the amount is over a certain threshold, then it could be considered a felony. One of the things that you will likely have to do if you’re convicted of welfare fraud is paying back the amount that you fraudulently received. You could also be ordered to pay fines and be sentenced to jail.

Seek An Attorney For Help And Defenses
A defense that you could possibly use is that you weren’t aware of reporting a change or that you were unaware of what you needed to report. You could also offer to repay the amount without being asked to do so, but this usually won’t remove the charge from your record. An attorney can work with you to provide evidence of the correct information to the court and reasons why you didn’t report information in the first place. The attorney can then work to try to get your sentence to a minimum so that you can work to pay back the debt.