Click here for updates on this story. The year-old Cleveland man has been the victim of electronic benefits theft twice in the last two months β losing his SNAP, or food-stamp, payments to criminals.
He managed to get part of his stolen benefits back, thanks to a federal repayment program for victims. Then, the money vanished overnight β along with his January payment. The federal reimbursement program ended on Dec. After a dramatic week of political sparring in Washington, D.
News 5 is still getting calls from theft victims across the region, from single parents and low-wage workers to disabled and elderly adults. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and its county-level partners keep issuing warnings about card skimming, where criminals put covers, tiny cameras and fake pin-pads on store payment machines. Department of Agriculture. That number is likely to climb since people whose benefits were stolen before Dec.
According to state records, December was the worst month for thefts so far. Cahill and other advocates say the long-term fix is adding security features to EBT cards. Those cards only have magnetic stripes. The USDA updated its technical standards in August, allowing states to roll out chip-and-tap technology. But legislation to mandate that transition β and pay for it β has been languishing in Congress despite bipartisan support.
California and Oklahoma are moving forward anyway. Other states, including Ohio, are waiting for the federal government to act β and to foot the bill. Today, the USDA will only reimburse states for half the cost of new cards. Their offices did not respond. Shontel Brown represents the Cleveland area and is the second-highest-ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee.
