Skimmer used to attach to pay terminals to steal SNAP benefit information. Courtesy: Oregon US Attorney’s Office
Portland, OR – The Oregon U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday, that at least 40 people are facing federal charges for conspiring to defraud the United States of more than $3 million in fraudulent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) purchases. The schemes involved stealing EBT card data—often through skimming devices—to make unauthorized purchases of large quantities of SNAP-eligible goods.
U.S. Attorney Scott Bradford announced multiple new guilty pleas, 11 new indictments, and major federal sentences in two large interstate fraud schemes involving stolen Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) account information.
“When SNAP benefits are stolen, real families go without food,” said Bradford. “That is unacceptable. My office will continue pursuing these cases to safeguard the integrity of the program and uphold the trust placed in us to protect Oregon’s communities.”
“This organized criminal scheme not only resulted in the loss of food assistance benefits for needy families whose EBT card data was skimmed or otherwise stolen.
Bradford said Oregon SNAP recipients are especially vulnerable because Oregon Trail SNAP cards are not equipped with microchips.
But that’s about to change. Late Wednesday, the Oregon Department of Human Services announced that the agency will launch a pilot program for new, chipped cards beginning with a thousand cardholders in December. New EBT cards will be sent out statewide in two phases early next year.
ODHS will have webpages in English and Spanish published the first week of November, with the rollout schedule and details about the new cards and what customers can expect.
Also, customers will get an advance notice letter from the state before the new cards are mailed. The letters tells them when to expect to get their card and what to do when they receive them (and if they don’t).
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