Oregonians whose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits are electronically stolen are no longer able to receive replacement benefits as of Dec. 21, 2024. The change comes after congressional leaders failed to pass a temporary extension on a previous bill that allowed the use of federal funding to replace stolen benefits.
Salaam Bhatti, the Food Research and Action Center SNAP director, said about 771,719 Oregonians risk having their benefits stolen through electronic theft, including “skimming.”
“The loss of replacement benefits leaves families in impossible situations, unable to recover benefits and having to choose between feeding their children and paying for their other basic needs,” Bhatti said.
Unlike typical credit or debit cards, SNAP Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT, cards don’t have the same basic security features like chips, CVV numbers and expiration dates. Hidden devices used on card readers allow essential information, including PINs, to be “skimmed” to access the person’s benefits.
Sarah Weber-Ogden, Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon co-executive director, said skimming is rare. However, Weber-Ogden believes this could be “extremely destabilizing” for many without replacement benefits.
“We’ve heard stories from families who don’t find out that they’re missing benefits until they get to the cash register, are trying to buy their groceries for the week, run their card and it’s declined and find out that there’s no money on their card,” Weber-Ogden said. “They have no way to buy food that week.”
Benefits stolen after Dec. 20, 2024, cannot be replaced. However, SNAP users whose benefits were stolen prior to Dec. 20, 2024, may still qualify to have their benefits replaced under the current policy.
Weber-Ogden encourages individuals to contact the Oregon Department of Human Services or Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, which may be able to help.
“Don’t give up and continue to pursue having those benefits replaced,” Weber-Ogden said.
In the meantime, SNAP users can take some steps to protect themselves from benefit theft, like changing their pins regularly, tracking their benefits and limiting online and out-of-state spending, according to Weber-Ogden.
She also said individuals who cannot purchase food can use Oregon Food Bank’s food finder tool to help locate food nearby.
With many at risk of permanently losing food assistance, advocates like Bhatti say it’s time to modernize the SNAP EBT system and protect the benefits families and individuals rely on to put food on the table.
“SNAP is our nation’s first line of defense against hunger … but outdated technology is putting these benefits at risk,” Bhatti said. “With so many daily transactions relying on outdated swipe-card technology, households with the lowest incomes have become prime targets for criminals.”
He said Congress could provide states and EBT retailers with resources to modernize EBT card systems with protections like chip technology to protect individuals and families from electronic theft.
Stolen benefits could not be replaced before Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act in 2023 due to increased awareness of EBT theft from card skimming and other fraudulent methods. States could then use federal funding to replace stolen benefits, but only until September 2024.
Advocates then pushed for an extension as the expiration date approached, which was approved through a continuing resolution and allowed a temporary three-month extension. Once three months were up, advocates pushed again for a second extension, but Congress did not approve any further extensions or a backup plan for those who might lose their benefits due to theft.
While Bhatti supports modernizing the SNAP EBT system, he believes there is an even easier way to protect individuals and families from having their benefits stolen: making replacement benefits permanent.
“Chip card adoption across all states will take years,” Bhatti said. “For the times when criminals do steal from SNAP participants, it is critical that SNAP participants have an accessible replacement lifeline.”
According to the Oregon Food Bank, one in eight people in Oregon faces food insecurity, which disproportionately affects communities of color, immigrants and refugees, single moms and caregivers and LGBTQIA2S+ communities.
Weber-Ogden, who works with individuals through Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon’s SNAP outreach program, regularly talks to individuals who have to choose between food and other critical expenses like rent. She says ensuring that people have access to SNAP benefits strengthens communities.
“People who haven’t been hungry before, I don’t think understand, it’s a feeling of absolute free fall and helplessness, and you’re reaching out to try to grab on to something to keep you from falling through,” Weber-Ogden said. “That is what the social safety net is for, it’s to catch us in our moments of free fall. When our congressional representatives, the people we vote to put in office … when they make decisions to weaken that social safety net as they are now and as they’re threatening to make in the budget reconciliation process, we have to stand up and fight back … The challenges continue, and we need those supports.”
Street Roots is an award-winning weekly investigative publication covering economic, environmental and social inequity. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
© 2024 Street Roots. All rights reserved. | To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org or call 503-228-5657, ext.
This article appears in February 12, 2025.