Tenn. has reimbursed more than $900k in stolen SNAP benefits
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — WREG Investigators uncovered new data showing thousands of people have submitted replacement requests for their stolen SNAP benefits in the past several months, and the state has reimbursed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
For the past year, WREG investigators have been tracking more and more people claiming their benefits were stolen.
Last summer, police reported a huge influx. They said hundreds of people were filing reports alleging their EBT card was fraudulently used in another part of the country.
SNAP benefits stolen? TN will reimburse you
Security experts told us the criminals are installing skimmers onto card machines or using phishing scams or bots to steal personal identification numbers. The cards are then aggregated and used to buy bulk items like energy drinks or baby formula the thieves later sell at a discount on the dark web.
When Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act in December 2022, it allowed state agencies to use federal funds to reimburse victims who had their benefits stolen as far back as October 2022.
Tennessee finally started taking replacement requests last fall. As of April 3, 7,898 people submitted a request and 1,760 of those are currently being reviewed.
The Tennessee Department of Human Services also reported about 78% of replacement requests they’ve reviewed have been approved. That’s $933,339 restored to “customers impacted by skimming, cloning and similar fraud.”
State working to address EBT fraud; MPD takes nearly 200 reports
A spokesperson added, “more advanced security interventions available for credit and debit cards have only recently become available for EBT processors.” They’re in the “process of converting to a new EBT vendor” and are “actively working to implement innovative new fraud mitigation technologies.”
Other states are also taking steps to prevent fraud like blocking suspicious out-of-state transactions.
State Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis) believes the issue really falls on the federal government.
“It is not a state-level issue. It’s a federal issue and keep in mind this issue of stolen SNAP benefits is happening nationally,” Parkinson said. “This has been happening long before now.”
The USDA reports it’s counted more than 162,000 fraudulent transactions during the fiscal year of 202 totaling more than $30-million in replaced benefits.
A bipartisan federal bill was introduced last month which would require SNAP EBT cards have microchip technology and other safeguards. Federal funds would help states roll out the new cards.
We will continue to track what happens.
Only the following types of fraud are eligible for replacement:
Card skimming (when devices illegally installed on ATMs or point-of-sale [POS] terminals capture card data or record households’ PINs)
Card cloning (when data captured by skimming are used to create fake EBT cards and then steal from households’ accounts)
Other similar fraudulent methods (including but not limited to scamming through fraudulent phone calls or text messages that mimic official TDHS messaging and phishing)
To report fraud, call the Office of Inspector General fraud hotline at 800-241-2629.
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