SNAP payments warning issued to millions of Americans

Fraudsters are scamming SNAP recipients in numerous states, with some of the country’s most vulnerable people being targeted for hundreds of dollars in benefits.

Scams involving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits have been reported nationwide, including most recently in Ohio, where one recipient found his electronic benefit card (EBT) had been cloned and used in other states. Jason Nichols told WHIOTV that he lost $291 worth of food stamps thanks to scammers spending his money in stores in Illinois.

SNAP is administered to recipients through an EBT card—similar to a debit card—which is loaded with money each month to use in participating stores across the country. Like regular debit or credit cards, they are subject to scams such as cloning, phishing or skimming.

Officials in Ohio recently warned SNAP recipients of a sharp rise in fraud. “Criminals have increasingly used a process called skimming to steal account numbers,” Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said in a statement in March. “This involves placing a device over a point-of-sale card reader to copy payment card information. A report from the FICO credit scoring agency shows that card skimming grew 368 percent from 2021 to 2022.”

Ohio is not the only state with SNAP fraud victims. There have been nearly 177,000 instances of fraud in the first quarter of 2024 across U.S. states, according to data supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).

New York is the worst-affected state, with 34,306 instances of benefit fraud reported in the first quarter. Illinois, Maryland and Texas have also reported high numbers of successful EBT scams.

Earlier this year, two people were charged for running a New York bodega as “ground zero” for committing over $20 million in EBT fraud. In March 2024, six people were arrested in the Lone Star State in connection tens of thousands of dollars of food stamp fraud.

Several bills have been proposed in New York to help tackle the problem, including making SNAP fraud a class D felony and conducting a study on the prevalence of food stamp theft in the Empire State.

Speaking to Newsweek about the proposed legislation, Brooklyn Representative Iwen Chu said that SNAP benefit fraud is “a critical issue” that has “victimized countless individuals and families,” and drained “substantial state resources.”

“This is why the study on SNAP fraud is so important; it will help us uncover the root causes; identify common tactics used by scammers; and guide us in crafting effective countermeasures,” Chu added. “The state must act immediately to identify how these benefits are being stolen. This is the essential first step to protect low-income New Yorkers who rely on this assistance for food and other necessities.”

How Can I Protect Myself From SNAP Fraud?

The following tips are from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services:

• Create a PIN for your card that is unique and difficult to guess.
• Change your PIN monthly, before each scheduled deposit.
• Never share your card number or PIN. ODJFS will never ask for these numbers.
• Carefully examine point-of-sale card readers before using them to check for skimming devices.
• When using your card, cover the keypad with your body or hand to stop others from seeing your PIN.