FTC: Protect your SNAP benefits from illegal card skimmers

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a consumer alert pertaining to card skimmers being used to steal SNAP benefits through EBT cards.

Scammers sneak illegal card skimmers onto payment terminals in stores, so they can grab data from your EBT card’s magnetic stripe without you knowing. Since EBT cards require PINs, scammers find ways to get those codes: they might try to phish you, using texts or calls to get you to share your PIN, or set up hidden cameras by the card skimmers to record you entering your code.

Once they have your information, the scammers create duplicate cards and drain your benefits. They can even find out how much is stored in your account by calling the state’s benefit hotline. Even worse, you probably won’t know what’s happened until you’re at a register with a cart full of groceries and find your card nearly (or totally) empty. 

To read the full consumer alert, which contains information on how to avoid these scams, please click here.