Federal agents visited 20 retailers in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, on April 16 with search warrants related to suspected food assistance fraud.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General said several federal agencies collaborated to identify stores engaging in “SNAP trafficking” — trading SNAP benefits for cash or ineligible items.
Homeland Security Investigations and USDA Office of Inspector General agents executed the search warrants and delivered administrative charging letters as part of “Operation Cold SNAP,” which began in February.
“If these charges are proven, the retailers could be removed from the program or subjected to other penalties,” the office said in a news release Thursday. “Evidence seized during the searches was referred to federal prosecutors.”
The news release did not specify which retailers were visited.
Federal…
This category refers to crimes committed by employees or insiders against their own organizations. It is often the most damaging because the perpetrator has authorized access to systems.
- Asset Misappropriation: The most common form, involving the theft of company resources. This ranges from simple “skimming” (taking cash before it’s recorded) to complex schemes involving the theft of inventory or intellectual property.
- Payroll Fraud: Employees may create “ghost employees” on the system, falsify their own timesheets to claim unworked overtime, or divert salary payments to their own accounts.
- Financial Statement Fraud: Management deliberately misrepresents the company’s financial health by inflating revenue or hiding liabilities to attract investors or meet performance bonuses.