Living Within Her Means

Fraudsters of all ages have at least one thing in common – greed. No matter the age, selfishness is usually the root of every fraudulent crime committed. An article posted on the Philadelphia CBS affiliate’s Web site reports that despite her age, a grandmother involved in collecting Social Security benefits for which she did not qualify, will be serving time for her crime.

The story states that the 74-year-old woman pocketed more than $155,000 in Social Security benefits that belonged to her deceased mother. (My guess is that she did not report her mother’s death 20 years ago and the checks kept rolling in.)

It turns out that the grandmother actually had a pretty good job working for the city of Philadelphia and made approximately $60,000 a year before she retired about seven years ago. She not only collected her own Social Security benefits, but her mother’s as well.

The article explains that the woman admitted living beyond her means. Despite the guilty plea, the judge still sentenced her to six months in prison plus another six months on house arrest. (It looks like the judge went easy on her because she was a first offender or perhaps because of her advanced age.)

Let’s hope that while she is serving out her sentence, she will take the time to contemplate how to live within her means instead of stealing from others, who have worked hard to earn their Social Security benefits.

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