Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Hello and welcome to Just a Bite. Today we're diving into an issue that has been facing SNAP beneficiaries across the country. SNAP Skimming SNAP skimming has existed for many years, but surged in 2022, impacting hundreds of thousands of SNAP recipients in the state of Ohio and across the country, causing SNAP recipients to have their benefits regularly stolen off their electronic benefit transfer or EBT card.
Although benefit theft started rapidly increasing in 2022, snap skimming still remains a threat for SNAP recipients. Today, criminals have been installing skimming devices at the point of sale at grocers and retailers, allowing them to steal card information and the benefits themselves, leaving vulnerable Ohioans without the funds they need to purchase food.
Because SNAP benefits are issued on electronic benefit transfer or EBT cards that do not have security protections like CHIP enabled or TAP to pay technology, they have been the target of organized crime rings.
Between June 2023 and December 2024, about 30,000 Ohio households have had upwards of $13 million of SNAP benefits stolen.
However, there are likely more families that have been skimmed of their benefits but never submitted reports of theft.
Up until December 20, 2024, households that have been skimmed of their benefits were able to report this theft and receive replacement benefits. Unfortunately, Congress did not extend the authorization to replace stolen Benefits and the December 2024 Continuing Resolution, also known as HR 10545.
This means that households have continued to experience benefit theft without any resource to recover the funds they are counting on to put food on the table.
Despite there being no further avenue for reimbursement. Cases of SNAP skimming continue to rise across the country, which is eroding consumer trust and the nation's most important line of defense against hunger. This theft continues to put pressure on strained call centers, Ohio Department of Job and Family Service caseworkers, Ohio's legal aid offices, and intensifying already record levels of demand for help from Ohio's food banks, causing innocent Ohioans to further experience hardship and hunger. In this episode, which was originally recorded In February of 2025, we sit down with Maura, a SNAP recipient living in Clark County, Ohio and victim of SNAP skimming, we will be uncovering the struggles that Maura, along with thousands of other SNAP households, have experienced because of SNAP benefit theft and how they have coped as a result. Let's get started.
[00:03:07] Speaker C: Hi Maura, thank you so much for being here today with us.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: Hi Eliza, thank you so much for having me.
[00:03:13] Speaker C: We are so happy to have you on the podcast and so thankful that you're willing to share your experience with us. I'd like to give you just a few minutes to give yourself a little introduction.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: All right. Well, my name is Mara O'. Connor. I live in Clark County, Ohio. I'm 27 years old. I've lived here my whole life.
I work full time as a paraprofessional for my local school district.
I work with children with special needs that are medically fragile. I'm also a single mother of three. I have a seven year old son and three year old twin daughters. And I receive SNAP benefits from for my three children and myself as well.
[00:03:52] Speaker B: Thank you so much for sharing.
[00:03:54] Speaker C: We kind of wanted to chat with you today to hear about your experience as a SNAP participant and specifically regarding your experience being skimmed from your SNAP benefits. For those of our listeners who may not be familiar with the SNAP program, make sure to check out our other episodes linked in the show notes that give a deeper dive into SNAP policy and all things that have to deal with the SNAP world legislatively from personal experience. Maura, can you walk us through how long you've been on SNAP benefits and kind of what the process looked like for you to be approved for your benefits?
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Yeah, so I've been receiving SNAP benefits for the past seven years. I had applied right after I had my first child. The process for me was pretty straightforward. I mean, granted it was seven years ago, but I don't remember it ever being that hard to apply or to receive my benefits.
But when I had my twins three years ago, I had to update my case and add them onto it. And I do remember that being a bit more challenging and just the length of the process was longer and just me receiving the benefits took longer. But yeah, so that was definitely more difficult, but it hasn't been too bad.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Gotcha.
[00:05:06] Speaker C: And so what kind of renewal process did you have to go through when you got your twins added onto your case? Like, was it kind of a similar process that you went through the first time around or did it look any different than the first time?
[00:05:18] Speaker A: For the first time when I had applied, I wasn't working at the time. Okay. And this time around, I still worked. I didn't get long maternity leave like I did with my son.
So I did have to submit, like all of my pay stubs, my bills, all of that stuff.
[00:05:34] Speaker C: Was that difficult for you to kind of track down all of those things and kind of get it submitted to during the test?
[00:05:41] Speaker A: Yes. Before I did everything through paper, this was all online.
[00:05:46] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: Trying to like get a hold of people at my local agency is really Difficult. Even just trying to get a scheduled appointment can take a couple weeks at a time. So I think that definitely added to the length of the whole process.
[00:06:01] Speaker C: I definitely hear you. That can be super frustrating, especially when you're trying to get these things approved to feed your kids. I can imagine that.
Can you kind of walk me through what happened when you first realized that your SNAP benefits had been stolen from your EBT card?
[00:06:17] Speaker A: The first time I realized my benefits had been stolen, it was probably a few months back.
I was going to place a pickup order at Kroger's because having three children and grocery shopping is very hectic, so I usually take advantage of the pickup.
And I went to check my SNAP balance on the providers app that I had at the time, and I realized my balance was drastically lower than what I had expected. So I went back to a list of my recent transactions, and I was made aware that someone had spent almost $200 in my snap benefits in Arkansas.
[00:06:51] Speaker C: Oh, wow.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: Yeah, I obviously knew that this was fraudulent because I've never been to Arkansas, let alone use my SNAP card there.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: Right.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: So that was my first experience with it.
[00:07:03] Speaker C: And so was like, your balance pretty close to zero after you realized that that amount of benefits had been stolen from you?
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I think I had only, like, maybe less than $100 left.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: Okay, gotcha.
[00:07:16] Speaker C: And was this the only time you had been skimmed of your SNAP benefits?
[00:07:21] Speaker A: No, unfortunately, it's happened two other times. Yeah, my SNAP benefits have been stolen three times in total. My second INC experience was similar to the first. I checked my balance and realized there were charges and purchases that I didn't make. This time it was from a bodega in the Bronx in New York City. It was like three different charges for small amounts, but I think it totaled to like, over $100.
And then I had been seeing posts on social media saying that the provider's app could have maybe been linked with the skimming. So I had deleted that app, thinking that would help.
So my third experience was honestly the worst because I wasn't checking my balance before I went to the store because I had deleted the app.
And I went to Kroger's for my weekly groceries for my kids and I. And when I went to pay for my groceries, my SNAP card was declined. And the cashier looked at me and said, sorry, sweetie, you're out of zero balance.
Yeah, instantly my heart dropped. Sorry. It makes me emotional even thinking about it.
[00:08:26] Speaker C: No, it's okay.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: But, yeah, instantly my heart dropped. I was embarrassed. I felt ashamed.
I Was beginning to get filled with anxiety trying to figure out what to do. I thankfully had enough money in my bank account to cover the cost of the basic essentials, but I had to put a lot of groceries back just to make it work. And that was just a horrible feeling of just being ripped off. And I'm trying to feed my children. And it's just so frustrating when you think you have enough because you should, and then you go to pay for it and you're out of zero balance.
[00:08:56] Speaker C: I'm so sorry you had to go through that. And I can't even imagine what that must have felt like, Especially in the third experience when you're kind of approaching the cash register and you have to, you know, go through that emotion of putting everything back.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: Yeah, it was so embarrassing. Like, I kept apologizing because there was a long line behind me. I'm like, oh, this is so embarrassing.
[00:09:15] Speaker C: Thank you so much for sharing that. And I'm really sorry that all of those happened to you. What immediate effects did this have on your financial situation in your daily life? I can imagine that this quantity of money was so important to you, feeding your three kids and kind of. How did this affect your daily life?
[00:09:34] Speaker A: Yeah, it definitely immediately affected me.
I had to honestly figure out what bill I could put off until my next pay. Like, I hate having to choose between food and basic necessities like my gas, electric, water bill. Yeah, I remember going to bed that night crying and thinking, how could someone steal from someone who's generally trying and working hard to. To get by but still needs some government assistance? I'm like, was just so frustrated because you're taking food out of my children's mouths.
[00:10:05] Speaker C: So were you able to be reimbursed from the benefits that were stolen from you?
[00:10:11] Speaker A: The first two times that it happened, I was completely unaware that you even had to like file something with my agency.
So I didn't the first two times. And then the third time one of my really good friends told me to file with the county agency. But honestly, the process was so long. And trying to get a hold of someone is literally a nightmare. Even like my, like I said, my scheduled appointments, I've been put on hold for like three plus hours at a time. And that's not even exaggeration. And I work Monday through Friday from 8 to 4:30, so I can't be on hold with somebody for hours at work. Right. And I literally can't afford to take a whole day off of work to try to get the issues resolved. So I just Kind of ended up just cutting my losses. Yeah.
[00:10:59] Speaker C: Were you able to get reimbursed the third time by eventually getting in contact with them?
[00:11:04] Speaker A: Yes, I was reimbursed the third time. It was a long process. Once I filed and got all of that approved, I don't even think I received that reimbursement until like two months later.
[00:11:15] Speaker C: Oh, wow. So there was a huge.
[00:11:16] Speaker A: Yeah, so it was a huge delay. And I remember thinking like, was it even worth all the struggle because people wait a couple months on their benefits.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:26] Speaker C: It's not like you can just not eat for the next.
[00:11:28] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:11:30] Speaker C: Yeah, that's really frustrating. So how did you eventually. Did you end up getting a hold of someone on the phone in order to file for that reimbursement?
[00:11:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I ended up finally just staying on hold forever and then I was able to get a hold of someone and then I ended up going to job and family services in my county and getting a packet to fill out and not even doing it through like the online. Yeah, I ended up just going in person because I thought that would be easier.
[00:11:57] Speaker C: Before you had found out that your benefits had been skimmed from your EBT.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: Card, were you even aware of this.
[00:12:03] Speaker C: Threat of skimming or that your EBT card could even be hacked like this?
[00:12:08] Speaker A: No, I was completely unaware about SNAP skimming until I was a victim of it, unfortunately. I wish I could have been informed that this was an ongoing issue so that I could have been more diligent about checking my balances and my recent transactions.
And I guess I'm just honestly naive and never would think someone would be able to steal from government issued funding. So.
[00:12:30] Speaker C: So you did not receive any communication from Clark County Job and Family Services about your benefits being stolen or anything like that?
[00:12:38] Speaker A: No, I was not informed of any of that.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: Gotcha.
[00:12:41] Speaker C: And from your experience as a SNAP recipient, how do you think that the county agency should protect and communicate with beneficiaries about this issue and give beneficiaries advice on how to protect themselves?
[00:12:55] Speaker A: I think what would be helpful at least to contact communication through either text messaging, a phone call, or even like on social media, because I know a lot of people in my age group, that's where they go to. To get information. So like if they even had like a Facebook page or something and like alert snapskin, you know what I mean? Something like that where people could share and get the word out. Yeah.
[00:13:19] Speaker C: If you could give one piece of advice to someone who might be at risk of snack skimming, what would it be?
[00:13:25] Speaker A: My advice would be just be very diligent and aware of how much you're spending, where you're spending it, and also to try and change your PIN number frequently and maybe before your benefits get loaded. That's what I've been doing every month. I've been calling the 1, 800 number and changing my pen. So and I think has helped a lot because knock on wood, but I haven't gotten skimmed since the last time.
[00:13:54] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a really great piece of advice. Going to and calling the 1-800-number that's listed on the back of your EBT card or your HOW Direction card is a really great way for people to change their PIN on a regular basis to make sure that their card is protected from potentially being skimmed.
So that's a really, really great piece of advice.
[00:14:14] Speaker B: Thank you so much for being here.
[00:14:16] Speaker C: Today and thank you for being open enough with us to share your story and to help protect others from being skimmed from their SNAP benefits and to educate all of our listeners on the crimes that are being committed across the country.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: Thank you so much for having me.
[00:14:30] Speaker B: Thank you for coming.
That brings us to the end of this episode of Just a Bite. I want to extend my gratitude to Maura for her vulnerability and for sharing her story with us. Maura is just one of thousands of people across the country who have been skimmed of their SNAP benefits due to no faults of their own. Although Maura shared these experience with us In February of 2025, SNAP recipients from around the country continue to be skinned of their benefits while with no path available for reimbursement. The Ohio association of Food Banks Network is eager and willing to partner with Congress, the USDA, and the State of Ohio to be partners in relieving hunger and hardship for victims of SNAP benefit theft and in securing permanent solutions to prevent future benefit theft. Tune in to our February 2026 episode to get a glimpse into Maura's life one year later and potential policy solutions in the state of Ohio that may give families like Maura some prevention, protection and relief.
