In recent months, food stamp fraud and theft have gotten so bad that some beneficiaries now want to hold the government legally accountable when benefits are taken. How can we avoid the increase in fraud and theft related to food stamp?
The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance, the organization in charge of the state’s food stamp program, has lately been the target of a class-action lawsuit because it refused to compensate fraud and theft victims for benefits that were fraudulently obtained, according to CBS News.
One of the claimants in the case was a victim of “skimming,” in which the burglar uses a tool to take the card data and PIN from another person’s electronic benefits payment card.
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Methods To Prevent Social Security Fraud
Benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, are paid for through EBT cards. The cards are made to function like debit cards. These lack the same built-in security features found on bank-issued debit or credit cards, though.
Questions have been raised regarding who should be held accountable for stolen benefits – the victims or the state organizations that manage the federal program, as skimming and other scams involving SNAP benefits have increased. According to the complaint, which was brought by the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, victims are currently bearing the financial burden.
According to MLRI attorney Betsy Gwin, who talked to CBS News, skimming happens all across the country. The distinction that we can see is that EBT recipients do not have government safeguards.
One method through which SNAP recipients have their benefits taken is by skimming. Phishing is another well-known scam in which fraudsters send messages that appear to be from a reliable source. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP at the federal level, claimed that thieves are attempting to get consumers’ EBT card information by impersonating as SNAP case workers.
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In October, the USDA issued a warning about phishing and skimming fraud. Also, it offered the following suggestions for avoiding fraud and theft:
Secretly save your PIN. While entering your PIN on a machine, cover the keypad and don’t reveal it to anyone outside of your home. Also, you ought to regularly alter your PIN.
Watch out for unauthorized charges on your EBT account. If you notice any unexpected charges, change your PIN right once to stop the thief from making more purchases.
Check the card readers again. Check the keyboard and card reader for any shady overlays or attachments. Although they can be hard to see, overlays are frequently bigger than the original machine and sometimes even cover some of it.
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Contact your neighborhood SNAP office right away if you think you’ve fallen victim to a skimming or phishing scam. On the USDA’s fraud page, you can also report SNAP fraud by state.
While you wait, use the chance to familiarize yourself with your state’s return regulations, advised Forbes. If you live in a state that reimburses for stolen benefits, you must follow its reporting theft rules. Recipients in California can call the EBT customer assistance helpline to report stolen EBT cards and submit a police report, a theft report, and other reports.