With food stamp theft on rise, Pennsylvania advocates push for this solution
For several years now, thieves have been hacking into food stamp accounts and robbing people of funds they need to feed their families.
In the past, many people have been able to file a report with their state agency and get reimbursed for their stolen SNAP benefits, formally known as food stamps, but that law expired in December 2024.
Now, if your debit card, known as an "EBT card" gets hacked, you're unable to purchase food until the card is reloaded the following month.
"I was completely robbed"
CBS News Philadelphia talked with Utani Bruce, a single mom of three who relies on SNAP benefits to feed her family. She's been on the program for years and never had a problem until one day in February she said she woke up early planning to get her kids off to school and go grocery shopping. She checked the app she uses to track her benefits and, "I was completely robbed," she said.
She gets close to $1,200 every month. She said her app showed the funds had processed but before the sun even came up, there was transaction after transaction from places she never heard of. Nearly all of it was gone.
"It showed about seven or eight transactions that were not mine," Bruce said.
Authorities believe thieves are installing skimming devices at retailers across the country. The device steals a person's card information and PIN number when they swipe.
Card-skimming thefts on the rise nationwide
Bruce said she reported the theft and was issued a new card and told to change her PIN, but there was no way for her to get the funds back. Bruce said she relied on food banks and relatives for the month.
She is one of many experiencing this theft in Philadelphia and nationwide.
Lydia Gottesfeld, an attorney at Community Legal Services, which offers free legal assistance to Philadelphians in need, said the problem has soared in the last six to nine months.
"They have no recourse and often they had no idea that their card had even been skimmed until they go to use it and see that there's $0 on there," Gottesfeld said.
How to make EBT cards more secure
Up until December 2024, the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service was replacing stolen SNAP benefits, but the law expired last year. According to government data, $220 million worth of stolen benefits were replaced in 2023-2024. A dashboard created by the USDA showed the problem got worse over time, peaking late last year, just when the program ended.
Now, Gottesfeld and others are pushing for states, who administer the benefits to make EBT cards more secure.
"The EBT cards still use the same technology as when they were first implemented in 1998," Gottesfeld said.
SNAP benefit recipients use debit cards with a magnetic strip and PIN rather than the more secure chip cards that have been customary for banks and corporations. Advocates acknowledge that a transition to more secure technology requires an upfront investment but believe it is a good use of taxpayer money in the long run.
"With this dramatic increase in theft, it's become a crisis," Gottesfeld said. "The time is now."
What states have debit cards with microchips?
According to data from the USDA, currently California is the only state with chip cards. Oklahoma and Maryland are in the process of making the transition.
CBS News Philadelphia learned both New Jersey and Pennsylvania are working on a new feature that would allow people to lock their accounts when they're not using their EBT cards to protect against theft. Delaware is also exploring more secure options but doesn't have a cost estimate for making the upgrades.
When asked during a committee meeting on March 4 why Pennsylvania Department of Human Services is not implementing chip cards, Secretary of Human Services Dr. Valerie Arkoosh told lawmakers, "Part of the reason you didn't see it as a budget initiative yet is because we have seen two states already begun implementation and they already have had some IT problems on the back end."
Arkoosh estimated it will cost the state $7 million to make the transition.
"This is something we very much want to do. It's not quite ready yet," Arkoosh said.
Of the three states, New Jersey is the only one with money already budgeted for the transition to chip cards. According to a spokesperson with the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Gov. Phil Murphy's proposed FY26 budget includes $3.2 million in funding to provide households with new EBT cards that have embedded microchips.
