Ga., S.C. SNAP benefits pilfered by international crime rings
ATLANTA, Ga. - As scammers continue stealing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from electronic food benefit cards, federal agencies are linking the fraud to international crime rings.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security ran a sting operation targeting EBT skimming at more than 100 locations in Los Angeles on May 1, stating they made 10 arrests and confiscated “high-value evidence.”
The scammers are taking benefits directly out of Supplemental Food Assistance Program s, and it’s a problem plaguing many Georgia and South Carolina recipients.
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Still undetermined is how scammers are getting EBT recipients’ personal identification numbers for cards.
But many families’ food money for the month is disappearing within minutes of being depositing onto their cards. Often, the transactions are taking place in several states in less than two minutes.
Many of the stores where these fraudulent transactions are supposedly taking place are not in the USDA’s approved retailer database, but the transactions are still going through.
While the USDA has not responded to requests for comment, it issued a news release regarding the sting operation in May, confirming criminals are “cloning point of sale terminals.”
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“Recent investigations show that international criminal organizations are heavily involved and benefiting from SNAP fraud,” the department said.
Criminals stole about $350 million last year alone. Data provided by the USDA shows a drastic increase in recent EBT fraud across the country in 2024′s final quarter with a 350% increase from the first quarter.
The USDA is also no longer reimbursing stolen funds as of Dec. 20, 2024, when allocated federal funding to address the problem ended.
In a statement, Secret Service Director Sean Curran said:
“Protecting our nation’s most vulnerable communities is a responsibility that we take very seriously and I am ionate about,” Curran said.
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What you can do
If you see or hear about fraud, you can anonymously report it in several ways:
- : Your state.
- Call: 800-424-9121 or 2020690-1202 (TDD)
- Write: USDA Office of Inspector General, PO Box 23399, Washington, DC 20026-3399
- Submit a report to the USDA online.
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