An image shared on Facebook claims a Mississippi man got arrested for hacking into the Hinds County Human Services Department and approving all the applications for food stamps.

Verdict: False

There is no record of the incident described in the post occurring. The claim appears to have originated as a joke.

Fact Check:

The image shows a screen grabbed Aug. 25 tweet that details how a 27-year-old man in Mississippi allegedly approved food stamp applications by hacking into the Hinds County Human Services Department’s system. It has been shared over 34,000 times at the time of publication.

“After approving the applications, he then had cards mailed out to new applicants all totaling $2500 each. Current card holders were also awarded $2500 credits,” reads the text. “His bond was set at $100,000 and has since bonded out. More on this story tonight at 10 pm. FOX News.”

There is, however, no evidence the incident described in the post actually occurred. Check Your Fact didn’t find any credible media reports about a person hacking into the department’s system to approve food stamp applications, and the Mississippi Department of Human Services doesn’t appear to have issued a press release addressing a hack to that effect. (RELATED: Viral Post Falsely Claims Everyone Can Receive Food Stamps If They Call This Number)

Searching the Fox News website for the story didn’t turn up any matches, further adding to the post’s dubiousness. The Hinds County website did get hacked in 2015, but county officials said at the time that the informational systems were not compromised, NBC affiliate WLBT reported.

Other iterations of the post contain a different photo but the same wording. A man named Brandon Dempsey took credit for creating the claim on Twitter in October 2019, saying, “Y’all I just make funny joke posts.. It’s just for social media fun.. Please don’t take me seriously lol.. Just like to make folks laugh that’s all.”