CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Toreasera Dawkins knows struggle. She's been homeless in the past but now she's back on her feet. As a mother of three, she relies on food stamps and Medicaid benefits to make ends meet.
"This month, I may not be able to afford this bill and you know, catch up on it the next month, but I'm just trying to do what I possibly can," said Dawkins.
LINK: How to report welfare fraud in Mecklenburg County
She's one of tens of thousands of people in Mecklenburg County who are getting welfare help and doing it the right way.
In a 9 Investigation, Eyewitness News anchor Blair Miller found welfare fraud is steadily on the rise. Last year there were more than 2,000 fraud investigations in Charlotte alone. Mecklenburg County is trying to collect more than $5 million in welfare payments that it considers fraudulent.
Julie Baldwin, chief welfare fraud investigator for Mecklenburg County's Department of Social Services, said not only is fraud up, there's also a new way people are boldly trying to sell welfare benefits -- mostly food stamps.
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"I would say social media, Craigslist, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. It's huge," said Baldwin. "It happens more than you would know."
One government accountability report recently found food stamps being sold on Craigslist in the Charlotte area. One post offered "food stamps for a place to sleep or for a van."
Another posting from someone claimed to offer "food stamps for beer." Of the thousands of fraud cases in the Charlotte area, only a handful ever go to court.
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Channel 9's investigation uncovered Statesville City Council member Jarrod Phifer was arrested in September and accused of food stamp and Medicaid fraud.
We tried to reach him at his home repeatedly and when we finally tracked him down, he wouldn't agree to explain what happened. His case is now pending in court.
How you can help:
To report suspected welfare fraud in Mecklenburg County please telephone the unit at 704-353-0600 from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m., Monday thru Friday. If you do not wish to speak directly to an investigator you may call the Welfare Fraud Hotline at 704-353-0400.
But with the growing crime, social services agencies across the state are adding more investigators to tackle the problem.
It's a problem that steals from taxpayers and also makes it harder for people like Dawkins, who's doing it the right way, to get the benefits they need.
"If it's just open and intentionally for someone to get financial gain, for drugs or just because you can do it and get away with it, that's just very bad," said Dawkins. "If I didn't have this kind of assistance we wouldn't be able to make it from day to day. We wouldn't have enough food to provide for our family."