BTW, people "steal" like this all the time on their credit cards, they go out and purchase material items than file bankruptcy, and the people who are paying their bills on time get screwed with higher interest rates. I'm so fed-up with this type of mentality.
Not necessarily true. We're in the process of filing for bankruptcy (for many reasons) and one thing a good lawyer will tell you is to stop using credit cards IMMEDIATELY. If I went out and bought myself a new Louis Vuitton bag on credit two weeks before I filed bankruptcy, the lawyer basically told us that we'd be committing fraud and the courts wouldn't accept our bankruptcy case.
Also keep in mind that when someone files for chapter 7, their assets are liquidated. There is an actual list that states what a person filing chapter 7 may keep, up to x amount of money. In other words, if I went up and racked up thousands of dollars in debt on jewelry and handbags and other non-necessary items, it wouldn't be worth it because it would all just get sold to pay off my creditors.
I'm sure people do scam the system, but many people don't.