# tricky EBT situation, need advice



## Kamil (Aug 2, 2012)

my buddy is a 25 yr old widow, homeless with no job, and 39 thousand in a paypall account thats frozen until september. there is a possibility that they could hold the money even long after that. We going to get his ebt card today, and when i got interviewed they asked me if i had a bank account (which i do but no money in it), duz my friends paypall account need to be brought up? or will they giv it to him anyways? cuz theres a lawsuit filed against him by schemeing in-laws so that money he and his better half saved up will go to legal shit (a custody battle against the in-laws) and paying rent. will he still qualify for the ebt food card due to the severity of the situation despite the large amount of money he has on paper, but in praxis has no access to?


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## Kim Chee (Aug 2, 2012)

If your widow buddy attempts to procure food stamps without declaring her assets, she can be charged with fraud (the form itself should specify the offense it amounts to). If she brings in paperwork indicating she has an account that is frozen they may give her EBT now and demand reimbursement from her later if that money becomes available. They will likely work with her now and figure out later what needs to happen. Laws concerning food stamps vary state to state, you may want to mention the state.


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## bryanpaul (Aug 2, 2012)

well the assets arent available to him NOW...... so when they say "do you have any assets" on the form......he should say no.....95% chance theyre not gonna go diggin to see if he has money... " i'm homeless and i'm having a hard time feeding myself"....done...... i wouldnt say shit about frozen assets.....but thats just my reckless opinion


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## CrypticCosmic (Aug 2, 2012)

I don't think they look into that shit.. They process hundreds of people a week.. PayPal is a third party "bank" pretty much. The welfare office won't look into it. I wouldn't trip.. 

I know a grip of people whove lied on the apps.. People do it all the time


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## Kamil (Aug 2, 2012)

state is cali, thanks for the info


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## Kim Chee (Aug 2, 2012)

Surely they wont notice that $39K your friend has, everybody knows that PayPal is just like an offshore account. And should it be discovered, they will be completely understanding and not prosecute.
::readrules::
If they figure it out they are going to want their money back. I don't think your friend is going to do any jail time. Personally, I like to sleep well at night and a couple hundred dollars in food isn't worth it to me when I can be a Master Dumpster Diver.


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## Diablero (Aug 2, 2012)

Starting in 2011, Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 6050W states that all US payment processors, including PayPal, are required by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to provide information to the IRS about certain customers who receive payments for the sale of goods or services through PayPal. These new rules apply to sellers who receive over $20,000 in gross payment volume AND over 200 separate payments in a calendar year.

If this applies to your friend, he will probably get caught in short order.

The world is full of free food ripe for the picking whether urban [dumpster diving, soup kitchens, food pantries, etc] or rural [foraging, hunting, fishing, trapping, stealing crops, etc] .

I wouldn't risk up to 20 years and multiple charges [fraud,false swearing (lying on gov forms) etc] just to get food in my stomach. Consider the risk reward ratio, it just doesnt pan out right.

People need to keep emergency money stashed and not rely on banks and payment processors entirely. Especially paypal who is known to freeze accounts indefinitely with excuse after excuse and especially large sums of money. They'll be lucky if they ever see the money again.


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## Shadowplay (Aug 2, 2012)

CrypticCosmic said:


> I don't think they look into that shit.. They process hundreds of people a week.. PayPal is a third party "bank" pretty much. The welfare office won't look into it. I wouldn't trip..
> 
> I know a grip of people whove lied on the apps.. People do it all the time



That's bullshit. They do go digging... And furthermore, if that person is caught, it's fraud. I'm pretty sure it's a federal offense and if
They ever need government assistance in the future they will NEVER be eligible again. So...


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## Kamil (Aug 3, 2012)

a milliion thanks to everyone who gave such thoughtfull and detailed responses, my buddy told them about the paypall money and about how he dint hav access to it for now and is awaiting his confirmation phone call. he didnt get it for this month (didnt qualify for what they called emergency or extradited relief) but he will get it soon. im glad the topic got brought up tho, cuz it may come up sumwhere again down the line.


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