How Outdated EBT Cards Are Fueling a Surge in SNAP Benefit Theft

Every month, one in eight Americans, 42.4 million people, use a government-issued EBT card to buy food. It is similar to credit and debit cards, with one important difference. It makes users increasingly likely to be victims of $1 billion in annual fraud.

EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) cards are used by 22.7 million households to receive an average of $356 a month as part of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). Once benefits are loaded on the cards, they can only be used to buy food at grocery and convenience stores. However, these cards use an outdated technology – magnetic stripes. Skimming devices inserted in card terminals read the stripes and capture user information. That information is then used to steal money from the cardholder’s account.

Why EBT Cards Are Easier to Skim Than Debit/Credit Cards 

SNAP is a federal-state government partnership. Each state determines eligibility and administers daily operations while the federal government funds and oversees the program. 

Lewis Barry, principal security architect and Microsoft MVP at Inforcer, a security and policy management platform, says the “fragmentation” between states and federal governments has caused a lag in security adoption. 

“What that ends up doing is leaving magnetic stripe cards in use longer than they probably should be,” Barry told SavingAdvice. “The big problem is those stripes are easy to clone, so once skimming starts it can spread pretty fast.”

Chris Brooks, co-founder of Crypto Asset Recovery, agrees.

“That stripe is the weak point,” Brooks tells SavingAdvice. “It’s static, easy to clone, and a cheap skimmer glued to a checkout terminal can copy it in seconds. Criminals go where the old technology lives, and EBT became the softest target in the checkout line.”

Money, Not Technology

Darshan Tiwari, CEO of ConsultAdd Public Services, a technology company helping government agencies modernize IT and cybersecurity, says the problem is not technology.

“Your bank fixed this 10 years ago,” he told SavingAdvice. “The food-benefit card never got the same upgrade, and the reason is money, not technology. In my years in the payments industry, I watched the whole commercial card business move to chips almost overnight after 2015. The trigger was simple: the rules changed so that whoever kept using the less-secure card, the bank or the store, had to absorb the fraud. Once the losses had an owner, everyone upgraded fast.

“So the one card carried specifically by people who can least afford to lose a dollar is among the last still relying on the easy-to-copy magnetic stripe on the back.”

How a SNAP/EBT Loss Differs From Debit/Credit Card Loss

The personal loss when a SNAP/EBT card is skimmed is devastatingly different from a debit or credit card theft. Banks and credit card companies issue almost immediate reimbursements in cases of card fraud.

“On the other hand, once SNAP benefits are depleted, there is no system in place that automatically replaces those benefits,” Justin Weinstein, Founding Partner of Weinstein Legal Team, told SavingAdvice. “Once a victim has lost their benefits, they lose what they had and usually do not eat at all unless the investigation is complete.”

Increased SNAP/EBT Skimming

Over 150 billion credit and debit card transactions occur a year in the U.S., generating roughly $4.7 trillion in purchases, according to CardRates.com. That presents a tempting target for fraudsters, and skimming those accounts continues to rise. However, EBT cards are an increasingly popular target for skimmers, according to multiple federal agencies and private consultants.

“The [SNAP/EBT] theft rate has increased three out of four months this year. April’s theft rate was 40% higher than January’s,” according to Propel, a free mobile app for managing government assistance benefits.

The federal government spends roughly $100 billion a year on SNAP, according to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). Most of that funding is transmitted directly to beneficiaries on EBT cards. In fiscal year 2024, for instance, $100.3 billion was spent on SNAP. Of that, $93.7 billion went directly to benefits. The rest covered administrative costs.

How EBT Skimming Fraud Works

Getting magnetic card information is the simple beginning of an advanced process, experts told SavingAdvice.

“The black stripe on the back of the card holds the exact same information every time it is swiped,” explains Tiwari, “so a cheap device hidden in a card slot can copy it, and a pinhole camera aimed at the keypad grabs the PIN. Now someone has a working copy of the card and the secret number, and you never felt a thing.”

That is only the beginning.

“The theft happens in the next step,” according to Brooks. “Once fraudsters have the card number and PIN, they can encode that data onto a blank magnetic-stripe card, essentially creating a working clone. Because EBT cards rely on the same magnetic stripe technology, a clone functions exactly like the original at any point-of-sale terminal or ATM.”

SNAP’s distribution consistency works in fraudsters’ favor.

“SNAP benefits load on a fixed schedule, usually the same day each month for a given household. Fraudsters know this. So they run automated systems, sometimes bots, sometimes rapid manual sweeps, that repeatedly check the stolen accounts and attempt transactions the instant funds appear. When the deposit hits, the clone is ready and waiting. The account gets drained within minutes, often before the family has any idea their benefits arrived,” says Brooks.

“That’s why the loss feels so sudden and so hard to prevent,” he adds. “The stolen credentials may have been sitting idle for weeks, but the actual theft is triggered by the deposit itself.”

How SNAP/EBT Skimming Organizations Avoid Apprehension

“EBT skimming syndicates maintain a strict compartmentalization that allows them to survive,” according to Weinstein. “The installer of the skimming device has no way of knowing who is processing the card, nor how or where the cloning of the card happened. The person processing payments cannot know who installed the device and does not know how the payment is liquidated. Each participant in the organization only knows how to do their job and is unaware of what anyone else is doing; thus, law enforcement cannot break down the structure of the skimming networks to discover how the money was transferred.” 

How to Protect Your Snap/EBT Card From Theft

The simplest way to protect your benefits is to change your PIN each month, on the day your benefits arrive or earlier.

“From there, if your state offers it (and not all do), freeze or lock the card between shopping trips and switch on the blocks for out-of-state and online purchases, since that is how most benefits are drained,” advises Tiwari. 

You can change your PIN in several ways. The most convenient is to call the toll-free number on the back of your EBT card (1-800-997-7777). An automated system will walk you through a few simple steps to get a new PIN. 

You can also log on to your state’s EBT portal, then tap the PIN or Security section and fill out the information for a new PIN. You can also go to a local SNAP/social services office. 

In addition, the Secret Service and various state agencies administering SNAP programs have recommended other steps you can take to protect benefits. They include:

• Inspect card readers. Look for anything loose, crooked, damaged, or scratched. Do not use a card reader if anything appears unusual. Look for overlapping attachments or hidden cameras before inserting your card.
• Avoid simple PINs (such as repeating digits or your birth year), and do not write your PIN on your card.
• Utilize Tap-to-Pay if your state’s Snap/EBT card features contactless technology, as this prevents physical skimmers from capturing your card data.

The Proven Fix for SNAP/EBT Skimming

“We do not have to guess whether the fix works,” Tiwari contends. “One state already proved it. California became the first to move food-benefit recipients to chip-and-tap cards. And reported skimming losses fell about 83% in under two years, with one county down 84%. That is not luck. It is exactly what the commercial card industry saw after 2015. A chip does not make a card harder to steal. It makes the stolen data useless, so counterfeiting stops paying.”

What is Being Done Now

The lag in technology is a major vulnerability for EBT cards. After losing billions of dollars, Congress has begun to act – again.  

In late February, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Enhanced Cybersecurity for SNAP Act of 2026. The measure, an amendment to the Food and Drug Act of 2008, requires the USDA to phase out magnetic stripe EBT cards and replace them with chip cards. This is Wyden’s second swing at getting this legislation passed. He introduced a similar bill in 2024 that died in committee.

Wyden’s bill may have a better chance of passing this time because it has bipartisan support. The 10 cosponsors are made up of five Democrats and five Republicans.

Similar legislation, sponsored by Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Mike Lawler (R-NY), has been introduced in the US House of Representatives. 

“Cybersecurity shouldn’t depend on income or zip code. It’s time to overhaul this two-tier system that leaves families in need even more vulnerable with outdated technology,” Wyden said when he introduced the bill.

What to Read Next

SNAP Soda Rules Paused: 5 Grocery Questions for Seniors

Food Assistance Requests Are Surging as 4.3 Million Americans Lose SNAP Benefits

SNAP Work Rules Now Apply to Adults 55-64—Why More Than 1 Million Older Americans Could Lose Food Assistance

Max Erkiletian

Max K. Erkiletian is a seasoned journalist and analytical reporter with nearly 40 years of experience. He has been nominated for several honors and was part of a team that won the Missouri Press Association’s Community Service Award.

His experience has included covering a wide range of topics, from crime reporting to politics and music. His interview subjects have included U.S. Senators, such as Tom Eagleton; economists, such as Arthur Laffer; former Fed Chair Paul Volcker; and musicians, such as Muddy Waters and B. B. King.

Today, he focuses on personal finance, consumer protection, economic shifts, and investment trends. His reporting aims to make complex issues understood and show how events impact consumers’ wallets.