Food assistance scams rising

LANSING Mich. (WLNS) – Scammers are gaining access to people’s food assistance programs and leaving them with nothing on their cards.

Food assistance fraud is on the rise. State officials say more than a thousand Michiganders receiving food benefits have had their money taken from them this year alone. They said it’s the worst they’ve ever seen. Gwendolyn Hardricik said it just happened to her.

“I don’t have the money for food,” Hardrick said.

Here in Michigan, the State’s Department of Health and Human Services manages SNAP, the federal food assistance program. For the program people use what is called an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card. They have to swipe those cards, leaving them vulnerable to skimmers, which can steal your card information.

Hardrick said she went from a full balance to absolutely nothing for the rest of September. She says her money comes in on the 15th of every month. So, on Sept. 15th. she went to the store, but when she tried to pay…

“The cashier told me that there was no stamps except for a dollar on my card,” Hardrick said.

She said she gets about $170 per month, and could not believe what happened.

“No one knowing my pin, no one having my card, and someone knowing the exact day of what day my allotment is put on my card, that’s a really smart scammer,” Hardrick said.

Nicole Denson-Sogbaka, a spokesperson for MDHHS, says the department has heard similar stories and the situation is concerning.

“For last fiscal year, we had 651 requests or reports of EBT fraud.” Denson-Sogbaka continued, “This year so far we have had almost 2,000 requests of EBT fraud.”

What does that number of reports mean in dollars? Stats show that last year the department replaced a little more than $180,000 because of scams. This year, they had to replace almost $900,000. Officials say 97% of the fraudulent transactions are from out of state.

“You can call the number on the back of your bridge card and lock your card and unlock it when you need to use it. You can also lock your card for out-of-state transactions so if you’re not someone who is going to travel, just lock your card, and if they skim the benefits they’re not going to be able to use them in the other state. And change your pin number and change it often,” Denson-Sogbaka said.

Those steps can be done through an app called ebtEDGE . Hardrick said her friends and family have been helping her, but she is worried about others who don’t have help.

“I know of families with children that have not gotten their allotment because they were defrauded out of them. What about that?” Hardrick said.

Hardrick said MDHHS called her and let her know she could pick up a new card and a gift card.

If you think you may have been a victim of this type of scam, report it to the MDHHS.

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