FraudNews
10-16-2013, 11:10 AM
Unless two Louisiana Wal-Mart stores ask for an investigation, police in two cities in the northern part of the state, have said they will not investigate possible fraudulent food stamp purchases that were made during the massive weekend system-wide outage.
A Wal-Mart company representative was unsure if the retailer would ask its local police to look into the matter, saying the company made the right call in allowing food stamp customers to keep buying products and wanted to keep their interests at heart.
The purchases were made at the Mansfield and Springhill locations on Oct. 12 when the system that supports the electronic benefit transfer system (EBT) crashed. According to Kayla Whaling, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said the retailer told its cashiers to continue the EBT sales.
Though no investigation has been started, it’s believed that some food stamp recipients spent beyond their balances.
Mansfield Assistant Chief of Police Gary Hobbs said Wal-Mart had yet to contact their office, even though the police are more than willing to begin investigating the cases should the company file a complaint and give them important evidence.
Xerox, the supplier responsible for the EBT cards, does have an emergency backup plan that lets retailers to call the company and permit up to $50 in purchase per food stamp receiver during these types of outages.
However, the Springhill and Mansfield locations failed to act on Xerox’s plan. Therefore, the retailer can decide if it’ll take a loss on the fraudulent purchases or let the local police do an investigation into the EBT charges.
Whaling said, regarding the acceptance of EBT cards beyond $50, that the locations made the right decision but did not say if they would do the same thing if it were to happen once more. She said the issue is dealt with and there were no material impact made on the business. Whaling did not say one way or the other if the retailer would get the police involved. She only said its primary focus is doing what’s best for the company’s customers.
Hobbs said there could be some legal liability on the food stamp recipients’ part if they overcharged their EBT cards. However, he said he doesn’t think the retailer will ask for an investigation.
Will Lynd, chief of police in Springhill, said he wouldn’t be shocked if an investigation was initiated by the company later on. But, at the moment, there were no steps being taken in regards to the issue.
Whaling said no estimates about the total amount of fraudulent charges would be released. State agency officials did say taxpayers are not going to be held responsible for the charges.
A Wal-Mart company representative was unsure if the retailer would ask its local police to look into the matter, saying the company made the right call in allowing food stamp customers to keep buying products and wanted to keep their interests at heart.
The purchases were made at the Mansfield and Springhill locations on Oct. 12 when the system that supports the electronic benefit transfer system (EBT) crashed. According to Kayla Whaling, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said the retailer told its cashiers to continue the EBT sales.
Though no investigation has been started, it’s believed that some food stamp recipients spent beyond their balances.
Mansfield Assistant Chief of Police Gary Hobbs said Wal-Mart had yet to contact their office, even though the police are more than willing to begin investigating the cases should the company file a complaint and give them important evidence.
Xerox, the supplier responsible for the EBT cards, does have an emergency backup plan that lets retailers to call the company and permit up to $50 in purchase per food stamp receiver during these types of outages.
However, the Springhill and Mansfield locations failed to act on Xerox’s plan. Therefore, the retailer can decide if it’ll take a loss on the fraudulent purchases or let the local police do an investigation into the EBT charges.
Whaling said, regarding the acceptance of EBT cards beyond $50, that the locations made the right decision but did not say if they would do the same thing if it were to happen once more. She said the issue is dealt with and there were no material impact made on the business. Whaling did not say one way or the other if the retailer would get the police involved. She only said its primary focus is doing what’s best for the company’s customers.
Hobbs said there could be some legal liability on the food stamp recipients’ part if they overcharged their EBT cards. However, he said he doesn’t think the retailer will ask for an investigation.
Will Lynd, chief of police in Springhill, said he wouldn’t be shocked if an investigation was initiated by the company later on. But, at the moment, there were no steps being taken in regards to the issue.
Whaling said no estimates about the total amount of fraudulent charges would be released. State agency officials did say taxpayers are not going to be held responsible for the charges.