Since August 18, 2018, over $554,000 in food benefit money has been stolen from people who use North Carolina’s Food and Nutrition Services. This is not the first time that a lot of money has been stolen from the program.
Stores have card readers that thieves can change, which lets them take both the magnetic stripe data from the cards being used and the PINs that are linked to those cards.
The thieves get the information they need to keep charging the cards until they are empty through a process called “skimming.”
The NC Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS) blocked online transactions from Connecticut, Florida, and New York on Friday, September 6. These three states seemed to be the major sources of the fraud.
An official statement from NC DHHS says that since the block was put in place, the department does not think any more fraud has happened.
It says in the statement that the rise in stolen benefits was caused by online purchases made at BJ’s Wholesale Club and that people with larger amounts were suffering the most.
“Since October 2022, when thieves started going after FNS participants across the country using card skimming, card cloning, and fraudulent transactions to steal Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, NC DHHS has been working with federal, state, and local police,”
There have been times before when this has happened. People with Food and Nutrition Program cards in North Carolina have had more than $2.7 million in benefits stolen since October 2022.
The State of North Carolina, or taxpayers, has been filling in the money gap left by fraud that stole benefits from people who use Food and Nutrition Services.
People who received benefits from the program and were scammed can ask to have their qualified benefits returned by mailing or faxing a signed affidavit to the social services department in their county. This person can also come to the office in person or call a social services worker to talk about the problem.
Social services can be found in Greensboro and High Point in Guilford County.
The client will be sent a new Electronic Benefit Transfer card, or “EBT card,” after the claim is checked out and handled. That should get to them in the mail in three to five working days, and the next day they’ll get replacement benefits.
The stolen money from the old card will not be on the new cards. The people who get food benefits have to file a claim in order to get alternative benefits.
If your Sunbucks money is stolen, you can’t get it back. People with kids can get extra money through that program to make sure they have enough food over the summer.
From now on, social services workers say the following will help keep your government benefits from being stolen:
- Check your EBT account regularly for unauthorized charges. You can check your balance and/or replace a lost or stolen card by visiting www.ebtedge.com, using the EBT Edge mobile app or contacting the North Carolina EBT Call Center at 1-888-622-7328.
- Choose a “difficult” PIN to guess (i.e., not 1234 or 4444). While this might not prevent card skimming, it’s a long-recommended safety practice.
- If you suspect card skimming, freeze your EBT card when not shopping so that fraudulent purchases can’t be made using your card.
- Block out-of-state and online purchases from your EBT Edge accounts or the mobile app.
- Check EBT card-reading machines in stores to make sure there’s nothing suspicious overlayed or attached to the card swiper.
- Contact your local law enforcement agency to report any stolen benefits.
- Call the EBT Call Center at 1-888-622-7328 to request a new EBT card at no cost.
- Change the PIN of the EBT card regularly using a new number each time.