(PatriotsUnited.org) – Scams aimed at the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are climbing across the country.
This U.S. federal program, targeted toward aiding low-income families with their grocery shopping, is sadly now a major target of increasingly tech-savvy fraudsters.
The American government has now shone a light on numerous key examples, such as phishing operations and counterfeit online portal impersonality official ones.
One frequently used scam includes text messages and phishing emails pretending to be official program communications. These messages instruct welfare recipients to add their current personal details via links to fraudulent web addresses, by which scammers can receive their details and misuse said financial benefits. This scam also leaves many welfare recipients without their much-needed support. Card skimming has emerged as a particular issue In Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania, with victims claiming that compromised card readers have stolen their information via their electronic benefit cards.
Another prominent scam involves sophisticated fake application portals that vow to speed up the processing of their benefits for a one-off payment. These websites contain official logos and documentation, tricking many into believing they are legitimate. However, this benefits office never charges for its services, and any site demanding payment is fraudulent.
The impact of these scams is profound. One traumatized Connecticut family told press that hundreds of dollars’ worth of such welfare credits were swiped from their account mere hours after they were deposited. One Florida woman explained how she had discovered hundreds of dollars had vanished from her account despite the fact she had only spent $20.
Last year, the State of Florida reported 356 claims of stolen food benefits. Nationally, almost 60,000 households were tragically affected, with $30 million in such welfare being lost to these criminal fraudsters. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Consumer Advice recommends several steps to safeguard against these spiraling benefit scams, including checking card readers for irregularities, regularly changing EBT pins, and monitoring EBT accounts for unauthorized charges
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