(CNSNews.com) – The real problem with the Lifeline Program that provides free cell phones – commonly known as “Obamaphones” – to low-income individuals is not that it’s been abused, but that not enough low-income Latinos are using the subsidized phones, according to The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
“Probably about 30 to 35 percent of the people who qualify for Lifeline would be Latino, and yet only about 15 percent of the users of Lifeline are Latino,” Brent Wilkes, executive director of LULAC, said in a conference call Wednesday.
When CNSNews asked for a comment on documented reports of fraud and abuse in the “Obamaphone” system, he replied, “From our perspective, it’s not that there’s too much use, it’s actually too little.”
“Not every wireless carrier perhaps has been as vigilant as some,” Wilkes offered as an explanation for fraudulent activity, adding, “I don’t have a lot of evidence about drug dealers using the phone and things like that, I mean, if anything they should be able to pay for them.”
“I don’t have any particular comment on that except to say that . . . the criminal mind will use all kinds of tools for nefarious purposes,” Nicholas Sullivan, fellow at the Center for Emerging Market Enterprises at Tufts University's Fletcher School, added in response to CNSNews’ question.
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