In order to obtain a Social Security benefit in the United States, it is necessary to meet a series of requirements. Among these requirements, it is important to work for a minimum of 10 years, in addition to reaching the age of 62. This is in the case of retirement due to age, since the requirements change in the case of disability benefits. In addition to these requirements, benefits are individual and transferable. Therefore, not just anyone can cash a check from a different person.
In this particular case we can see that two women in the Commonwealth of Virginia improperly and illegally cashed a Social Security benefit. In total, these two women stole over $170,000 of retirement fund.
To accomplish this what they did was to apply for the Social Security benefit of an incarcerated family member. This is how they swindled the SSA, taking that large amount of money for all those years. This news is very sad for all Americans who trust in the sincerity of other citizens.
How did they manage to defraud Social Security?
To be on Social Security, they applied for the benefit of an incarcerated family member. Through deceit and lies, they got the Administration to start paying benefits for this family member.
The Social Security Administration could clearly see the deception because Betty Gowen, the incarcerated family member, applied for her benefit upon her release from prison. Social Security cancelled this claim, as it was on record that this benefit had already been accepted. It was then that Betty Gowen discovered that her daughter and granddaughter were collecting their checks on a monthly basis.
Thus, Judith Cash, age 58, and her daughter Christy Bowling, age 38, were able to come up with the huge amount of money. In total, the money amounts to $172,952 from 2010 to 2020. It was ten years of theft and scams.
Mother and daughter shared the same bank card, so both people are equally to blame. Both pleaded guilty, so each one will be punished. The daughter, on the one hand, will get two months in federal prison and one year of house arrest. Cash, on the other hand, will have only one year of house arrest.
On top of all this, the mother and daughter will have to pay back to Social Security the money stolen during all these years. So in the end they will have to go to jail in addition to paying back the money.