With a swipe at the checkout line, scammers are using skimmers to steal information from cards used to buy groceries with help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. And there has been an uptick in reports of thefts of those food benefits in Massachusetts, state officials warn.
SNAP benefits, sometimes referred to as food stamps, are accessed through an EBT card. The most common types of theft involve data being stolen through card skimming devices placed on card machines at check-out, or phishing scams that steal the victims' personal information, the state Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) said.
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In Massachusetts, more than five thousand claims were submitted between October and December of last year, with more than $2 million dollars in benefits replaced, records show. But now, low-income families who are robbed of their grocery funds are no longer able to be reimbursed.
“It's an economic shock for anyone to experience, but in this case, it's taking food off of the table and it's keeping families stuck in crisis,” said Kajubi. “They're forced to make impossible choices to cover their basic needs,” said Birabwa Kajubi, the associate commissioner for quality management at the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance, or DTA.
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DTA is urging EBT users to lock their cards by using their mobile app or visiting their website, and to check to see if devices show any signs of tampering. Taking steps like regularly changing PIN numbers can also reduce the risk of any unauthorized use.
Steve Weisman, editor at Scamicide.com, said a simple fix could save millions of dollars in theft — upgrading magnetic strip cards to microchips, like consumer credit and debit cards.
“That cost is certainly far less than what the government ends up losing in funds,” said Weisman. “Unfortunately, I have no idea why congress, which has been aware of this problem literally for years, can’t make the simple corrective solution of switching over to chip cards.”
Federal law had authorized the reimbursement of any benefits stolen before Dec. 20, 2024, but further funding has not been extended for any thefts past that deadline. This means it's essential for users to protect their funds.
If your benefits are stolen, you should still report it to DTA, officials said, in case more funding is approved later. You can make those reports here.
For more tips from DTA on how to protect your benefits, click here.
