A rise in fraud involving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits has consequences beyond just the individual victims of theft. Government efforts to deal with the problem end up costing all taxpayers as well.
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In California alone, SNAP theft costs the state tens of millions of dollars a year to replace the stolen benefits, Cal Matters reported. In response, the state has proposed to upgrade SNAP security features at a cost of $50 million in next year’s budget.
SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, is a food purchasing assistance program overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered at the state level. SNAP recipients have their money loaded onto Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards each month – and those cards are a big reason fraud has been on the rise.
As GOBankingRates previously reported, EBT cards are designed to work like debit cards. The problem is, they don’t have the same built-in protections found with bank-issued debit or credit cards. Much of the fraud involves “skimming,” in which thieves use a device to steal the card number and PIN off of someone else’s electronic benefits payment card.
This is a very expensive problem for agencies that run SNAP – and for the taxpayers who fund them.
A study…
