Does a viral video of a woman complaining that she is being forced to sell her BMW to prevent her food stamps allotment being cut from "$4K to 888 month" show a real-life situation? No, that's not true: The clip was initially posted by an account with a satire label. Previously, its author already said that "none of that is real", replying to earlier accusations of fraud. The dollar amounts she claimed to receive far exceed the maximums available through the SNAP foodstamp program.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on March 16, 2025. It read:
She's mad that someone reported her to the state of Michigan because she was making money on TikTok, but still getting $4k a month in food stamps and getting cash benefits.
Her benefits were cut because she doesn't qualify for them based on her new income. 😂
The shared video showed a banner that read:
DHS is forcing me to sell my 2024 BMW or my food stamps gets cut from $4k to 888 month. They also cut my cash benefits and telling me section 8 will no longer pay 95% of my rent. what do I do??
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Mar 17 18:45:21 2025 UTC)
The entry by the account that described itself as "DOGE (News) fan page on X" (archived here) implied that the video showed a real-life situation.
However, the account that initially posted the video (archived here) in early February 2025 showed a disclaimer (archived here):
For Entertainment Purposes Only. SATIRE...
In a separate clip published on January 17, 2025 (archived here), the same account addressed earlier accusations of fraud.
At the 00:17 mark, the woman said:
... I opened YouTube last night, and I watch a lot of court shows, like body cam, dash cam, child support court. And the first video that pops up, the title is 'Welfare Fraudster Doesn't Understand Consequences'. And that would be my kind of video, like that I would watch. So I go to click on it. It's me! It's my TikTok, it's my face! You guys, none of that is real!
At the 00:59 mark, she continued:
95% of my content is satire, there is no way... if you go through my TikToks, there is no way I have all that shit going on in my life.
Furthermore, the figure of $4,000 per month in food stamps, also known as SNAP, is rather unrealistic. According to the federally established rules for most of 2025 (archived here), even an eligible household of eight people will not get even half of that amount in most states, including Michigan:
(Source: USDA screenshot taken on Mon Mat 17 18:53:31 2025 UTC)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) mentioned in the video's original caption does not administer the program on the local level, either. It's the job of respective state-level agencies. In Michigan, it's the Department of Health and Human Services (archived here).
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Other Lead Stories fact checks of the claims concerning the United States are here.
