Fighting EBT Fraud in Maine

The federal government is dead-set against Maine’s proposal to require photo IDs on EBT cards.

In March, police busted an alleged sex-trafficking ring in Maine after a 19-year-old woman fled, claiming she was afraid of being sold to a Boston pimp. Already, the three alleged traffickers had reportedly forced her to engage in sex acts to pay off a debt. Two of the accused remain behind bars — so it caught the attention of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ Fraud Investigation and Recovery Unit when the alleged sex traffickers’ electronic-benefits transaction (EBT) cards remained in use.

That’s just the latest in a series of sordid cases in Maine where welfare fraud and other criminal activity have mixed. In the past year, the Androscoggin County Jail alone has confiscated more than 87 EBT cards that were in the possession of people not authorized to use the benefits. The Portland Press Herald has estimated that public-benefits fraud in Maine costs taxpayers around $3.7 million each year.

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