People Scamming the State

[MamaBear]

I had a call from a lady who lives in a nearby neighborhood. The homes in her area were originally million dollar homes a few years ago... now worth half as much probably - but still very nice.

Anyway - she tells me her life story... how she is renting her home with her husband and is a stay at home mom. Her husband works at home doing some online sales job. Even though she doesn't work outside the home or go to school, she said she gets State assistance to pay for ALL her childcare costs!!!!

She said she currently has her two children in this daycare center up the street that costs @ $260 per infant... she has two infant age children, so she normally would be paying $2000+ per month for childcare. She bragged to me that the State (California) pays 100% for all of her childcare & she even gets MediCal and Welfare payments and food stamps. She wanted to try to place her younger infant with me until he's older and then put him back in the daycare center. She bragged to me about her lifestyle - how she used to have a housekeeper & nanny but she didn't like having a stranger in the house... she even bragged about her new BMW SUV she just got!

She was super snotty and I was not the least bit interested in helping her. But it just amazes me that she can afford the rent in this particular neighborhood, have nice cars and housekeepers and the State would still give her public assistance!!!! Seriously made me want to puke. I told her that I don't accept State payments - so sorry can't help you out. I wish I could report her for being such a scammer. She has to be lying to the State to get the $$ she is getting. Yuck... she was nauseating!

[Zoe]

Well hopefully more people like you will turn her down, because that's just ridiculous. There are real people out there who NEED that assistance and don't take advantage of it. It's stories like yours that REALLY make me not want to accept daycare assistance families. Are there no more honest people left?!

[Michael]

I had a call from a lady who lives in a nearby neighborhood. The homes in her area were originally million dollar homes a few years ago... now worth half as much probably - but still very nice.

Anyway - she tells me her life story... how she is renting her home with her husband and is a stay at home mom. Her husband works at home doing some online sales job. Even though she doesn't work outside the home or go to school, she said she gets State assistance to pay for ALL her childcare costs!!!!

She said she currently has her two children in this daycare center up the street that costs @ $260 per infant... she has two infant age children, so she normally would be paying $2000+ per month for childcare. She bragged to me that the State (California) pays 100% for all of her childcare & she even gets MediCal and Welfare payments and food stamps. She wanted to try to place her younger infant with me until he's older and then put him back in the daycare center. She bragged to me about her lifestyle - how she used to have a housekeeper & nanny but she didn't like having a stranger in the house... she even bragged about her new BMW SUV she just got!

She was super snotty and I was not the least bit interested in helping her. But it just amazes me that she can afford the rent in this particular neighborhood, have nice cars and housekeepers and the State would still give her public assistance!!!! Seriously made me want to puke. I told her that I don't accept State payments - so sorry can't help you out. I wish I could report her for being such a scammer. She has to be lying to the State to get the $$ she is getting. Yuck... she was nauseating!

It's why are money is worth less and less every year. We give our tax dollars to the government and they spend it foolishly. If a Newport Beach lifeguard can get $200k a year from being in the Fireman Union, that is making private sector jobs saleries worth less. We are giving the government our tax dollars to pay for these crazy public sector expenditures. It makes no sense There is no truthful oversight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending

[Unregistered]

ugh...

I hear about this almost every week. The worst part is that my own cousin and his wife are doing this.

It is so horrible. I even thought about turning them in, but then decided that I should stay out of it.,

My cousins are married, but claim they are divorced living at two separate addresses. Since he is the bread winner, and she does not work, she qualifies for EVERY form of assistance possible. Makes me want to puke.

I told them, that they are going to get it in the end and they better stop doing it. They even did it when filing their taxes so that they would qualify for low income credit and got back like 8 grand....

I can't believe that I am related to these people...It is my cousins wife who is doing it all, but he's just as bad, becusae he goes along with it.....

And everyone wonders why our state is in the issues it's in.....

[Michelle]

They probably get hud!
You can qualify by income as long as you have at least one boy and one girl you can qualify for a 3 bedroom, they allow 2 kids per room,( same sex) so if they have more than 4 kids they can get a 4 bedroom...I had a friend that had a huge 4 bedroom house and she only had to pay $180 per month .
The rent was $2,000

[MamaBear]

They probably get hud!
You can qualify by income as long as you have at least one boy and one girl you can qualify for a 3 bedroom, they allow 2 kids per room,( same sex) so if they have more than 4 kids they can get a 4 bedroom...I had a friend that had a huge 4 bedroom house and she only had to pay $180 per month .
The rent was $2,000

That is nauseating... Meanwhile everyone else works their butts off to be able to live in nice homes and pay for quality childcare and PAYS their taxes - but then people like this get it all for free. Very sickening.

[MamaBear]

It's why are money is worth less and less every year. We give our tax dollars to the government and they spend it foolishly. If a Newport Beach lifeguard can get $200k a year from being in the Fireman Union, that is making private sector jobs saleries worth less. We are giving the government our tax dollars to pay for these crazy public sector expenditures. It makes no sense There is no truthful oversight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending

I agree Michael... It makes no sense.

[Nellie]

Sorry this is so long.

I have met people that work the system. The couples are unmarried and the women sign up for benefits only using there income and not telling case workers that the father or boyfriend lives with them. I have worked with women that talk about how they won't pick up extra hours because they will get there food stamps reduced. They complain at the amount of food stamps they get. They complain that they now have to buy generic chips and soda pop. They bring there kids to warm clothes programs. They get vouchers for $140 for each child to get boots, snow pants, gloves, and coats at Kohl's. If there is extra left after the child has all the necessary outdoor clothing the rest of the money can be used for sweatshirt, pants, and socks. My had a co worker who was a single mom, on housing assistance, heating assistance, salvation army for Christmas gifts, warm coat programs, food stamp, and what ever else there is. Her kids all had different last names and was trying to talk her boyfriend into having a baby.

I read an article about a near by cities church. It was a church in one of the poorest areas. The church was bankrupt and closing. The pastor at the time told his story of being a minister there and how he tried changing the way things were done. He said when he started he'd go visit parishioners with gift donations for the families. When he got to the houses he'd find a Christmas tree with presents packed all around and two feet high. The families were getting gifts from all sorts of different programs. When he'd help them move he'd find bags of donated clothes moldy in basements. He tried changing the way that the church helped the parishioners. He said it didn't go over well, but he tried.
My husband is way more conservative than I am. He doesn't believe in government programs. He believes that individuals and churches should take care of the community instead of the government. I on the other hand feel it is a good thing to provide temporary emergency assistance to those who need it. Unfortunately I don't think some people try hard enough and there are a portion of the population that abuses these programs. It is a slap in the face to those who work hard and go with out to find out there tax dollar is going to individuals that don't try.

After we had two children and my husbands job cut out overtime and bonus's we actually qualified for help. Instead my husband called every company he knew and let them know that if they needed any extra help to call him. He worked every day of the week. He'd come home from his first job and most evenings would go work for an additional 2 to 5 hours else where making $10 an hour. That was no where what he was use to being paid, but money was money. Instead of taking the 200 dollars a month in food stamps we qualified for with our income, we went with out treats, costly snacks, high end meats, and convenient frozen foods. There was no generic Doritos or no generic pop period. Instead of putting our oldest child on the free or reduced price lunch program we didn't eat out at all(including fast food, picking up a soda or candy bar at the gas station) and packed lunches when it was cost beneficial. I scoured 2nd hand clothing stores and thrift sales for the items we needed. No one got brand new name brand clothing. Instead of being on the state health program we paid the $600 a month for our share for insurance through my husbands work. After our son was born we owed $8000 in out of pocket expenses. We called the hospital up and made a payment arrangements. I sewed my husbands work pants up and put patches in them weekly to make them last a few extra months. We drove old vehicles and pay cash for them. When winter came around we could have gotten a little assistance to help with the heating cost of our home. Instead when fall rolled around and we realized we only had 1/2 of the money saved to heat the house at 65 we invested in a little wood burning stove. My husband asked his family if we could cut wood on our land. I'm not trying to paint a poor me story. The state has a website that you can input your information in to see if you would qualify for benefits. With my husband working as many little part time jobs as he could get and in addition to his full time job we were right on the borderline of qualifying. The site said we could get a couple hundred dollars in food stamps, we could get the state plan of health care for 160 a month(1, 2, and 3 dollar co pays), WIC, a little heating, and the oldest qualified for reduce$d lunch. On the other hand we own a home. We bought it right before we were married and we figured that we could afford it on my husbands income. When I got pregnant I became so sick that I lost 30 pounds in the first 5 months. I had to quit working when I was about 7 weeks along. Everything would have been fine, but the job my husband had worked at for over 12 years cut his bonuses. Right there he lost 600 to 1000 a month. A few months later there was no overtime. All his life he had always been able to work as many hours as he wanted. Most of the time they mandated 50, but he was always welcomed to work more and always did. A couple of more months down the road he doesn't even get 40 hours for a few months. Then 2 months before our son was born the health insurance policy changed. Instead our out of pocket expenses went from $200 to $600 a month. Our monthly premiums went up by 3 X's, our co pays doubled, and the max out of pocket a year went up 8X's. We put all of our eggs in one basket. We figured we could always count on his job. He doesn't have a college degrees so it would be impossible for him to find another job that paid the same amount as his previous employment.

We made the mistake of trying for a child while I was still in school. I had 9 credits left and we didn't think of the possibility that I would be bed ridden for 9 months. Then to our surprise we found out I was expecting again when our newborn was 5 months along. We should have done things differently. We shouldn't spent so much on a house. We should have waited to start our family after I was done with school. We should have had our credit cards paid up before we bought the house. This was our own fault. I doubt that hard working taxpayer want to help us out to purchase our home. It is our decision to keep the house. We could sell it. We did put down 30% on it when we built it so even with the drop in value we still should be able to get enough to pay off the loan. We could cash out some of our 401K and take 10 to 15 thousand out and buy a trailer home. We could put it in a park in town for 200 a month for rent, witch includes water and garbage. The electric would be cut down by over a hundred a month because towns electric is cheaper than the co op in the country. Have natural gas is town so heating would be 1/4 of the cost to heat with propane(and going from a large home to a small one). Even if we didn't buy a trailer we could rent one at the court for $600 total. That is what taxpayers would probable want us to do before giving us a hand out to make our $1400 mortgage every month.

We are lucky and things turned around for us. I don't know if it was luck, God, or hard work. Maybe a little everything. One of the owners at one of the companies that my husband called begging for an little work that they could give him noticed his skill, hard work, and determination. The man offed us a partnership in the small business. He allowed us to make payments on the half of the business we bought. We had a 5 year payment plan, but will have it all payed up in a few months 2 years early. My husband still works 6 days a week 10 to 14 hours a day for at least 5 months out of the year. Works 40 to 60 hours the other 5 months and two months our of the year he is off(if we save enough money to allow him to not take other work). I watch a couple of kids now. I don't watch as many as I use to. My income isn't necessity anymore. It is more for the wants. I feel comfortable. There is money is the savings account, I can write out checks as soon as the bills come in, I can go to the grocery store and buy a 12 pack of pop if I want. Right now we can't go on lavish vacations or buy a new car, but when my husband needs new work clothes he is able to buy them. I know that for some this wouldn't seem like enough, but I am able to sleep at night with ease. I certainly don't want people to stop donating, but I understand why some people are cynical at the system.

[Kaddidle Care]

Here's the Mother of all Cheaters scamming the state:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/seattle-welfare-recipient-lives-million-dollar-home-161252749.html

At the least these people should have to pay everything back, plus interest AND do community service for 8 years.

But alas, they'll probably get a slap on the wrist - or have to spend some time in the pokey while we all pay for it.

They need to set up a whistle blower hotline for stuff like this - if they haven't already.

Edit: did a little research - here you go - report them: http://www.ucowf.org/index.php?optio...=107&Itemid=65

http://oig.ssa.gov/report-fraud-waste-or-abuse

[Michelle]

Wow, Nellie, you are awesome and a true inspiration!!!
Bless your wonderful family.

[MamaBear]

There are definitely hard working people that NEED help and deserve it...They are the ones who take the help and then when they are on their feet, they stop taking the assistance... But then there are definitely people who abuse the system by lying & scamming to get what they want...the lazy ones. The ones who have more kids just to get more money or won't take on more work hours just to be sure they still will get their monthly check. Or like this lady who called me today for daycare that I originally posted about... She obviously had no reason to not be able to work. I looked her up on Facebook just out of boredom tonight and she is self employed as a photographer and by the looks of her website is pretty successful. But since she's self employed she is probably not revealing her real income I bet. She gets so much $$ from the State that she can buy a new BMW and live in a luxury home. Something is definitely wrong with that picture.

[Michelle]

There are definitely hard working people that NEED help and deserve it...They are the ones who take the help and then when they are on their feet, they stop taking the assistance... But then there are definitely people who abuse the system by lying & scamming to get what they want...the lazy ones. The ones who have more kids just to get more money or won't take on more work hours just to be sure they still will get their monthly check. Or like this lady who called me today for daycare that I originally posted about... She obviously had no reason to not be able to work. I looked her up on Facebook just out of boredom tonight and she is self employed as a photographer and by the looks of her website is pretty successful. But since she's self employed she is probably not revealing her real income I bet. She gets so much $$ from the State that she can buy a new BMW and live in a luxury home. Something is definitely wrong with that picture.

Yea, people don't usually claim photography for a wedding, family pictures or party on their taxes... she is probably getting a lot of money and not reporting it to the I.R.S.

[Kaddidle Care]

Nellie, you are truly an inspiration. I didn't read your whole story last night but just did this morning. You are one of the very few Americans that believe in scrimping, saving, hard work and eventually it will all work out.

I'm so happy for you and your family that it did. How long was it between his lay off and present day? 2 years?

The system is out there to help people but unfortunately all it has done is make them lazy.

To the original OP, I just can't believe the audacity of that person. If you don't turn her in, someone else will. It's one thing to be a thief on the sly (not that I'm condoning it) but to brag about it is just plain stupid. Maybe sub-consciously she's asking to be turned in.

My husband and I bought our little house when we were making a mere $25,000.00 COMBINED income back in the mid 80's. The best interest rate was 12.75% and we put 25% down after 2 years of hard saving and living at home still with our parents. We WAITED 2 years to get married. We WAITED until we had enough money for a downpayment. We WAITED 5 years before having our first child.

2 months after we had our baby my husband's job shut down. Yes, it was scary but it was a much better job market then. We knew he'd get another job as he was very good at what he did.

In my weird demented mind I thought it was scary, yet exciting. It forces you to look at what you already have and to make due with only what you need. I guess I did have the comfort of knowing that if we were ever in total dire straights, my father would help out - but we never asked, nor did we need to.

I actually think it's good for a marriage to go through something like this and weather the storm together. It makes you stronger, it makes you a solid unit.
Eh.. I'm rattling on - sorry.

Nellie - you done good girl! happyface

[cheerfuldom]

It is very possible that she is lying about multiple things....perhaps even her home address. She may claim she is living somewhere else and even get mail there. She may claim that she is a single mom, or divorced (just to get the benefits), she may be claiming that she is working for her husbands business or any number of ways that it appears she is working. you just cant know for sure what is going on there.

[countrymom]

our welfare system is even better than yours. I know people who make way more money on welfare than I do in a month.

I just don't understand why I have to scrimp, coupon cut, live frugaly and shop at thrift stores when the goverment hands money out to people left and right. Why is it that its ok for my children to wear hand me downs, yard sale finds and thrift store clothes but those on welfare would never ever have their children wear that stuff. Why is it that their activities get paid for while I shell out 375 dollars a month for dance lessons for my kids, why is it that dh and I can't go out for dinner because there is no money left after everything is paid for but all the welfare moms can go out drinking, tanning and to the salon, heck probably have house keeping come to their houses.

oh, and did you know in ontario that you can stay on welfare till your child goes to school full time, so you get to collect for 4 yrs, then have another kid.