Recent months have seen a dramatic increase in the amount of fraud and theft involving food stamps, to the point where some recipients are now seeking legal action against the government to hold them accountable for stolen benefits.
One of the issues is that there aren’t enough protections in place to stop fraud in the food aid program.
Cases of Food Stamps Theft Surges
In response to the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance’s refusal to compensate fraud victims for benefits that were fraudulently obtained, a class action complaint was recently brought against the organization that manages the state’s food stamp program.
In July, Natahlie Rahmsay went to her local supermarket in Boston to buy groceries for herself and her disabled adult son using her electronic benefits transfer card. The $460 in monthly food stamp payments had been placed onto the card just a few days earlier.
However, the cashier gave the 71-year-old a terrible shock at the register when she informed her that there wasn’t enough money on the card to cover the $91 in food purchases.
Rahmsay soon discovered that a fraudster had spent roughly $400 of her food stamp payments at Sam’s Club in Cicero, Illinois, a city she had never been to. She does not belong to Sam’s Club either.
It comes out that the con artist stole her card information and PIN by skimming her number using a device fitted into a card reader.
A new class-action lawsuit claims that Rahmsay quickly learned that the Massachusetts Transitional Assistance (DTA), the organization in charge of running the food-stamp program in her state, would not pay her for the benefits she had been cheated out of.
Who should be held accountable for food stamp benefits that have been stolen taxpayers or the people who have actually been harmed are in dispute. EBT cards function similarly to debit cards, but they don’t offer the same security features as credit and debit cards do.
According to the lawsuit, which aims to force the DTA to give Rahmsay and other skimming victims their stolen benefits back, food stamp theft victims are now bearing the financial burden when their benefits are stolen.
The US Department of Agriculture last month identified it as a growing issue and the cases in Massachusetts may only reflect a small portion of Americans who lose their benefits due to theft.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or the food-stamp program, is currently used by about 41 million Americans for food assistance.
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How to Prevent Food Stamp Theft?
The USDA issued a warning regarding phishing and skimming scams in October. Additionally, it provided the following advice on how to prevent fraud and theft:
- Do not divulge your PIN. Never divulge it to anybody outside of your family, and when entering your PIN on a machine, cover the keypad. Frequently changing your PIN is also advised.
- Keep an eye out for illegal charges on your EBT account. Change your PIN right away to prevent the thief from making additional purchases if you detect any unusual charges.
- Check the card readers again. Verify the card reader and keyboard for any suspicious overlays or attachments. Overlays might be challenging to spot, but they are frequently larger than the original machine and may even cover some of it.
Call the SNAP office in your area right away if you think you’ve fallen victim to a skimming or phishing scam. The USDA’s fraud page also allows you to report SNAP fraud by state.
Take the opportunity to learn about your state’s return laws in the meanwhile, said Forbes. You must adhere to its reporting theft requirements if you reside in a state that compensates for stolen benefits. Beneficiaries can, for instance, submit a police report, fill out a theft report, and report stolen EBT cards to the EBT customer support helpline in California.
