SNAP benefits map shows fraud reports across US

SNAP fraud has been reported across almost all 50 states this year, but some regions are suffering considerably more than others at the hands of criminals seeking to steal from some of the country’s most vulnerable people.

There have been nearly 177,000 instances of fraud in the first quarter of 2024 across 46 reporting states, according to data supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). It comes as some states announce plans to tackle electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card fraud affecting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients.

SNAP is administered to recipients through an EBT card—similar to a debit card—which are loaded with money each month to use in participating stores across the country. Like regular debit or credit cards, they are subject to scams such as cloning, phishing or skimming.

The state with the highest number of reported frauds is New York, with 34,306 reports of theft from EBT cards during the first quarter of 2024. In second place is Maryland with 9,466 reported instances, and in third place is Texas, with 7,764 thefts.

Numbers in some states are also rising in comparison to the last quarter. Among the worst affected, in New York there were 16,372 reported fraud cases in the final quarter of 2023. In Texas, there was a jump of 4,818 fraud reports between Q4 of last year and Q1 of this year.

Elsewhere, there has been some decline. In Maryland, there were 11,083 reports of SNAP recipients being cheated out of their benefits in Q4 of 2023. In Q1 of 2024, there were 9,466.

Only two states have so far reported no instances of SNAP theft: Alaska and Wyoming. Other states have had very few scammers unlawfully accessing another person’s SNAP payments, including Maine (nine), North Dakota (six), Idaho (four) and South Dakota (two).

Only four states—Arkansas, California, Hawaii and Oklahoma—have no available data on the number of reported SNAP thefts so far this year.

“As of FY24 Q1, the data represents 50 states but many of those did not report for a full quarter. The remaining states will be added over the subsequent quarters as they implement their plans and have data to report,” the FNS said.

Lawmakers in affected states have brought forward several proposals to tackle the issue. In New York, several bills have been proposed, including automatic cancellation of compromised EBT cards, making card theft a Class D felony, and enacting a study to help better understand why so many instances of fraud are taking place in New York City.

Speaking to Newsweek about her proposed study on SNAP fraud, Brooklyn Representative Iwen Chu said it is “a critical issue affecting both my district and the entire state” that has “victimized countless individuals and families,” as well as draining “substantial state resources.”

In Maryland, lawmakers last year voted through legislation that would implement chip technology in EBT cards. In Texas, earlier this year, six people were arrested for tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of SNAP thefts in El Paso.