EAU CLAIRE, Wisc. (WEAU) -- A new audit of the state's food assistance program called FoodShare shows suspicious spending and reported cases of fraud, including right here in Eau Claire County.

In Eau Claire County alone the number of people participating in the FoodShare program has ballooned over the past five years to more than 16,000 people, and almost half of those people are children.

The state audit noted a number of cases of suspicious spending out of state. And while local department of human services workers say that particular type of fraud doesn't happen a lot in Eau Claire, many other types do.

A quick spin around the grocery store with your FoodShare card in hand can fill your cart with nutritious food to feed a family.

Unfortunately, a new trend in Eau Claire County shows people doing something else with their cards other than shopping for groceries.

“A newer fraudulent activity is people selling their card, crazy enough on Facebook, thinking they can get away with it,” Linda Struck a supervisor at the Eau Claire County Department of Human Services says.

Struck says the department is backlogged by nearly a year in fraud cases they need to look into.

“Resources are low, 20 years ago we had three fraud investigators in Eau Claire County and then we had two investigators and a few years ago we went down to one and that person actually does investigations for numerous counties,” Struck tells us.

But Nancy Coffey with UW-Extension, who works with people on the FoodShare program, says we need to keep the numbers in perspective.

“I think it’s very unfortunate when a few people who do abuse the system make bad publicity for all of those accessing the programs correctly,” Coffey says.

According to the latest audit the percentage of suspicious out of state spending accounted for just one quarter of a percent of the people using the FoodShare program.

“Most people are trying to use their FoodShare dollars the best most effective way they know how,” Coffey says.

Last year, Eau Claire County issued a little more than $1.2 million in FoodShare benefits.
Struck says when you're talking about that much money and that many people, you'll often find at least a little bit of fraud.