A woman in Washington State is in hot water after it was discovered via Facebook that she was committing welfare fraud.
The woman, who was not identified, reportedly used the social network to sell food stamps. (The sale of food stamps is a prohibited practice.) Tipsters- meaning the woman’s friends on Facebook- alerted the relevant authorities that the suspect had offered $200 worth of food stamps for $100 in cash to any takers, presumably in her Facebook feed.
Authorities had just recently faced criticism over welfare fraud and failure to aggressively pursue the issue, and made a statement on Thursday about the arrest.
“This is an excellent example of how we all can work together in community partnerships to protect limited tax dollars from being misused and abused,” Steven Lowe, senior director of the state’s new Office of Fraud and Accountability, said in a statement Thursday.
Committing illegal acts is always risky and often immoral. However, unless you are engaged in a noble act of civil disobedience, it’s probably best to keep your shadiest dealings off social media sites, lest one of your followers embrace a different moral code. Have you ever seen a blatant admission of wrongdoing or malfeasance on Facebook or Twitter?
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