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Angela Liriano, a 93-year-old Cuban resident of South Florida, broke her silence after becoming one of the victims of a massive fraud scheme that left nearly 200 people without Food Stamps.
Their story, marked by surprise and helplessness, illustrates the direct impact of this crime on those who rely on the SNAP program to survive day by day.
“You need money because if not, just imagine, you have to buy many things”, said Angela Liriano in statements to the local press, visibly affected after discovering that her SNAP benefits card had been emptied without her knowledge.
Liriano recounted that he realized the fraud at the most distressing moment: when he tried to pay for his groceries at the supermarket.
“I saw that the card was empty... I realized”, he recalled.
At her age, she never imagined that someone could be using her benefits without permission.
Liriano still remembers the anguish experienced and issued a warning to other beneficiaries: “Report it immediately so that action can be taken on that.” “Everything in life becomes known… so much time passed and now that’s when they caught her,” he added.
The case has brought to light a crime that, according to authorities, was carried out over several months by Tamica Brown, a 43-year-old woman who was arrested on April 7th in Broward County.
The accused faces charges for the criminal use of personal identification information and trafficking in counterfeit cards, following an investigation that lasted at least eight months.
According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, the scheme began to come to light in July 2025, when a victim reported the fraudulent use of their EBT card at a Walmart in Cooper City.
From that moment on, the detectives uncovered a coordinated operation involving the theft of card numbers, PINs, and account balances belonging to beneficiaries of the SNAP program.
"According to the investigators, Tamica Brown managed to steal the card numbers and gained access to the account balances of those individuals who receive government nutritional benefits," explained spokesperson Claudinne Caro.
With that information, the accused made unauthorized purchases, primarily of high-demand products such as energy and sports drinks, which she subsequently resold in convenience stores to convert the profits into cash.
Authorities also noted that at least two accomplices may have been involved in obtaining and transmitting the stolen data, and that these individuals remain at large.
But beyond the criminal network, the consequences have been devastating for the victims.
Like Liriano, dozens of people discovered the fraud in the worst possible way: in front of the cash register, trying to pay for groceries and finding their accounts completely empty.
Among those affected are also single mothers and elderly individuals, particularly vulnerable groups that rely almost exclusively on this assistance.
Total losses exceed $120,000, although some reports raise the figure to as much as $300,000.
So far, more than 30 victims have been formally identified, but authorities estimate that the total number could be close to 200.
The impact was not just economic. For many of these people, recovering their benefits involved weeks of paperwork, phone calls, and waiting, in a process that exposed the system's limitations in responding quickly to this type of fraud.
Tamica Brown remains in custody with a bail set at $300,000 as the judicial process continues.
Authorities hope that the case will serve as a warning about a type of fraud that has reached concerning dimensions on a national level: the federal government has had to replace hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen SNAP benefits in recent years.
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