Thousands of 海角换妻 residents receiving federal food benefits have seen their funds stolen after thefts skyrocketed in the last year, but state officials are cautiously optimistic a new campaign to raise public awareness about the issue is helping to protect the state鈥檚 low-income residents.
Theft of benefits ballooned widely in fiscal year 2024, a jump of over $3 million from the year prior, when $132,000 was stolen.
Officials say so-called 鈥渟kimmer devices鈥� are to blame, illegally installed scanners on point of sale machines that capture the account details of an EBT card, including a user鈥檚 pin number. When scanned, the transaction still goes through, but thieves can later use the account information to , which is most common when benefits are reloaded at the start of the month.
The Department of Social Services is pushing an education campaign to tackle the issue, including text messaging, social media, and community conversations. Recipients are directed to change their EBT card pin number at least once a month, ideally before benefits kick in.
State officials are pointing to signs of progress on combating the thefts.
Christine Stuart, DSS deputy director of communications, said there were 63% fewer SNAP thefts in the first week of July, compared to the same week in June 鈥� and over 24,000 海角换妻 residents changed their pin last month.
鈥淭he fact that the amount of people changing their pin has doubled between May and June, I feel like that's a promising sign that the campaign is working,鈥� she said.
Stuart said her agency is asking Congress to help fund security improvements to EBT cards, which currently operate like debit card, but don鈥檛 have a chip to provide an additional layer of security.
Victims of fraud can , but as of now the federal pilot program funding those replacements will expire by the end of this September. Stuart said DSS is asking Congress to extend the program at least another year.
As of July 15, over 6,500 stolen benefits claims were approved in 2024, and over 7,500 were submitted, DSS data shows.
鈥淭hese criminals are preying on some of the most vulnerable people in the state, people who really need food assistance,鈥� State Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a problem that's been growing nationally, but it's certainly been growing in 海角换妻 at least this year, although hopefully we're making a dent in it now.鈥�
Lesser, who co-chairs the Human Services Committee, said he doesn鈥檛 know if improving EBT card security requires a state policy change 鈥� but if so, lawmakers would tackle it in the 2025 legislative session.
