Fraudsters stole about $320 million in SNAP benefits over 2-year period: GAO
**Fraudsters Stole About $320 Million in SNAP Benefits Over Two-Year Period: GAO Report**
*Just the News* | September 27, 2025, 10:12 PM | Nicholas Ballasy
Posted by E. Pluribus Unum
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A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report has revealed that fraudsters stole approximately $320 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits over a two-year period. The thefts occurred between October 2022 and December 2024, affecting nearly 679,000 households across 52 states.
The GAO report highlights that the available data likely understates the actual scale of SNAP theft since states are not required to report every incident, meaning many thefts go undisclosed.
The report calls on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to strengthen its efforts in assessing how states implement security measures designed to prevent theft of SNAP benefits on electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards.
### Security Measures and Challenges
States reportedly use a variety of tools recommended by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service to prevent benefit theft. However, many of these measures depend on individual SNAP recipients taking action, which may limit their widespread adoption.
According to the GAO, SNAP benefits are vulnerable to several methods of theft, including:
– Card skimming
– Card cloning
– Phishing and spoofing attacks aimed at tricking recipients into revealing personal information
– Fraudsters impersonating legitimate SNAP retailers to steal data
– Use of bots to identify valid Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) for accounts
### Financial Impact and Replacement Policy
The GAO report states that state SNAP agencies replaced over $320 million in stolen benefits with federal funds during the specified period. However, it warns that benefits stolen on or after December 21, 2024, are no longer eligible for replacement with federal funds.
This policy shift raises concern that victims of theft could be left without resources to purchase food.
### GAO Recommendations
The watchdog urges the secretary of Agriculture to ensure that the Food and Nutrition Service:
– Continuously assesses the implementation of benefit theft prevention measures by state SNAP agencies
– Uses these assessments to identify areas for improvement or additional assistance
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### Community Reactions (Excerpted)
**Worldtraveler:**
“Given the recent flood of stories, the proper conclusion is that there has been wholesale looting of the nation by criminals easily exploiting the system.”
**Repealthe17thAmendment:**
“In my opinion, the entire program is theft. The federal government has no business funding this.”
**Harmless Teddy Bear:**
“At this level of fraud, people need to be fired — those who designed a faulty system and those who failed to oversee it. But no one will be fired. Maybe bonuses will be reduced this year. At least thank goodness for the GAO; someone is paying attention.”
**Leaning Right:**
“How much ended up in Act Blue?”
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