Nick Shirley Discovers A $120 Can of Spam Busts Open Seattle's Food Stamp Fraud

Victoria Taft, PJMedia

It wasn't bad enough that California hospice owners were driving Ferraris bought with stolen tax money, and that FireAID donations were given to nonprofits that had nothing to do with actual, you know, fire aid. Now we discover that food stamp fraud is taking place in the open on the streets of America, and nobody's doing anything about it, apparently.
Independent reporter Nick Shirley, with a group of other indy reporters, revealed the open-air federal food stamp fraud taking place on the streets of Seattle.
Shirley, San Francisco-based street reporter Darren Stallcup, Seattle's Jonathan Choe, and other intrepid indy reporters followed the money.
Choe tells Shirley that EBT cards litter homeless encampments, where they receive so many of them that they begin to throw them away. Many of those "homeless" drug zombies use their food stamp cards to buy drugs.
Choe and Shirley found EBT cards and sought to follow the lucrative scam from beginning to end. Shirley lays out how simple this is in a new video displaying how one abandoned EBT card can buy drugs, sex, and a $120 can of Spam.

Here's how food stamp fraud works: - Gov funds EBT cards with $ - Fraudster offers to buy the card for cash - Local business partners with the fraudster to adjust food price to the EBT card's balance - Everyone gets paid with your tax dollars END THE FRAUD. https://t.co/WE7145oqdI
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) October 8, 2026

Watch a woman who's some kind of street broker drive Shirley and another reporter to a second location, a Seattle seafood store nearby, to turn the EBT card into a pot of gold.
Shirley tells her, "You've committed fraud." She replies, "I know."
Watch the longer version that takes you through the interaction between the reporters and an apparently homeless guy named Devon who directs them to a place in downtown Seattle where they can turn the card in for cash. For interested law enforcement, Devon says the name of the place at minute 5:18.
On their way to the EBT money laundering place, they come across a Vietnamese lady who appears to be working with others. One woman seems to be calling a number on the back of an EBT card to perhaps find out the balance on the card.
The woman who knows she's committing fraud asks one of the reporters how much is on their card. Shirley replies $120. She offers $60 and then tells them to hop in her car so she can launder it at the seafood market.
"And magically, just like that, one can of spam and thing of sushi was $120," Shirley declares.
Look Inside the Luxury Tower Housing L.A.’s Homeless Bureaucracy

Los Ángeles Housing Services Authority is headquartered in a luxurious building with many financial institutions. Amenities include Commercial Matrix equipment, free weights, cardio, rowers, TRX, interactive bikes • Rock climbing wall • Locker rooms and showers • Infrared sauna and cold plunge Croft Alley café (on-site), valet parking and a Helipad
— Inner Rhythm Media (@InnerRhythmWave) September 16, 2026

Stephen Green:

As broken down by Wall Street Apes on Tuesday, LAHSA "is headquartered in a luxury high rise building where employees enjoy VIP amenities like a fitness center, rock climbing wall, an infrared sauna, a cold plunge, and a helipad."
And the pay? Oh my, the pay: