BALTIMORE — This week, Maryland lawmakers will hold hearings on bills addressing the huge spike in stolen SNAP and cash assistance benefits.
Families who rely on their benefits to feed their children, pay bills, and afford rent, have learned their federal assistance benefits were swiped almost immediately after they were deposited onto their electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards.
WMAR-2 News Mallory Sofastaii exposed this issue last year and has been covering it ever since.
MAY 24, 2022: Families are losing food and cash assistance to thieves; state says it’s unable to replace benefits
This theft scheme started taking off in the middle of 2022.
Nicole, who asked that we not use her last name out of concerns for her safety, first fell victim to this EBT theft last August.
“They removed $360 of the cash,” said Nicole.
A few months later, it happened again.
“December 10, 2022, they removed $480 of the SNAP benefits,” Nicole recalled.
And just this month, the money she uses to feed her and her son had been stolen from her newest state-issued EBT card.
“February 10, 2023, they removed $490 of the SNAP benefits,” Nicole told Sofastaii.
“Three times you’ve had your benefits stolen?” Sofastaii asked.
“Three times,” Nicole responded.
“How has this impacted you and your family?” Sofastaii asked.
“In a horrible way. In a horrible way. Right now, there’s nothing in the fridge, Mallory. I mean, honestly,” said Nicole.
Nicole added that she only uses her card in a few places that are within walking distance, and she suspects someone in the neighborhood placed a skimmer on a nearby payment terminal.
“How have you been able to get by? You said you’ve been going to the food pantries?” Sofastaii asked her.
“Noodles, hot dogs, that’s what we get,” Nicole responded.
And she scrapes together what she can until she receives her benefits the next month. However, starting in March, she'll experience another setback when the SNAP Emergency Allotment ends reducing her monthly SNAP benefits from $517 to $138.
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The Maryland Department of Human Services has been tracking these stolen benefits, but so far, has refused to replace them. Several other jurisdictions including D.C. and California have reimbursed stolen benefits using local funds.
Data provided by the Department shows reported losses in 2022 exceeded $1.6 million, compared to $92,000 the year before. Already in January, more than $258,000 in SNAP and cash assistance benefits were reported stolen.
“These people have no idea what happened. All they know is they have no funds on their cards and they're being turned away and told there's nothing that can be done,” said Michelle Madaio, the director of economic justice for the Homeless Persons Representation Project.
Madaio speaks with a new victim every week.
“When folks go to the Department to find out why is there nothing on my card, they're told sometimes that ‘Oh, well in the middle of the night the entire balance was withdrawn,’” said Madaio.
There are currently two bills in the Maryland General Assembly that would address this issue, both have hearings this week in the House of Delegates and State Senate.
Madaio stressed that the legislation needs to focus on reimbursing benefits immediately and better securing EBT cards.
“There's all these security features in the private credit card and debit card sector that just don't exist with EBT cards,” said Madaio.
Currently, EBT cards do not have chip card technology and cardholders have no way of blocking out-of-state transactions or setting up card usage alerts.
In October, a representative with Conduent, the vendor that issues EBT benefits, said it was working on developing this technology but did not say when it would be implemented.
Sofastaii contacted DHS about these enhanced security features. In an email, a spokesperson wrote:
"At the request of the Maryland Department of Human Services, Conduent implemented PIN restrictions for Maryland EBT cards in September 2022, with the understanding that more comprehensive fraud mitigation action from Conduent was underway.
Last month, Conduent presented a more comprehensive fraud mitigation package, outlining enhanced EBT card security features. The department swiftly accepted the proposal, but Conduent in turn retracted it to revise cost estimates. The department just received a new proposal this week and is working with our federal partners to review and respond as soon as possible."
Senate Bills 2 and 401 and their cross-filed House Bills 502 and 697 would mandate some of these features and immediately restore benefits to victims of this theft.
“If a family already qualifies for these benefits and then they're stolen and there's nothing else they can fall back on, that's a failure of our government and we really need to address this,” said Madaio.
While the General Assembly debates these bills, Congress recently approved replacing SNAP benefits for certain individuals during a limited time period.
On December 29, 2022, President Joseph Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (the Omnibus), which includes provisions for the replacement of stolen EBT benefits with federal funds.
States are required to submit their reimbursement plans to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) by February 27. When FNS approves a state plan, that state will be able to replace certain benefits stolen October 1, 2022, through September 30, 2024, using federal funds. Per the Omnibus, benefit theft that qualifies for such replacement includes card skimming, card cloning, and other similar fraudulent methods.
According to FNS, a household may only receive two instances of replacement benefits in each federal fiscal year.
Maryland DHS was the first in the nation to submit its SNAP EBT fraud reimbursement plan to the federal government for approval, according to a DHS spokesperson. The plan was submitted to the USDA's Food & Nutrition Service for review on February 10th, and the agency is awaiting its approval.
If you’re interested in testifying on SB2 or 401 on Thursday, February 23 at 1 p.m., oral testimony sign-up and written testimony submission will open on February 22 from 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Click here for instructions on how to register.
Victims of EBT theft are encouraged to file a police report and contact their elected officials. You can find their info by clicking here. Type in your address under the "lookup" tab and you'll have the option to email all the checked legislators.
