how easy is it to get a free cell phone in the government? the free phones are supposed to go to people who are very poor. one reporter set out to see how easy it is to abuse the lifeline program and stick you, yes you, with the phone bills to pay for tchl the national review jillian mel cher is here to talk about it. were you able to get a free phone? not only that. i was able to get three. i m not eligible for any of them. how were you able to get them so easily? i think pretty much anywhere that you can get food stamps, they have vendors out on the street who are approaching you and saying do you have a free phone yet? and so i say no or when i did have one i said yes. and they would ask you whether you were on welfare of any kind. i said nope but i d sure like to be. that got me signed up. they pulled out their tablet and
they re not in the business of checking whether or not i m on welfare. to the extent that the government is not supposed to be in the cell phone business, cell phone companies aren t in the welfare business, but once you do that, you see a lot of people signing up and many shouldn t have them. did you know before you started down this investigative project, did you know what that $2.50 charge was on your bill at all? i didn t. i m glad i know now. it kind of makes me mad but it s crazy that i was able to get them. and the estimate is how much in fraud a year? i m not sure on fraud. i know there is an audit a while ago that said about 41% hadn t been verified as eligible and hadn t confirmed. but i don t know what that adds up to in numbers. jillian, thank you. thanks. now to tonight s first hot button issue on greta wire.com. do you feel by the lifeline phone program? vote yes because no one asked me if i wanted to pay into it or no, it s a good idea for poor people.