Atlanta

Hacker shows how criminals are stealing your SNAP benefits, and how to protect yourself

By Ashli Lincoln, WSB-TV
By Ashli Lincoln, WSB-TV

ATLANTA — Nell Robinson says she’s never lived in the State of Florida and doesn’t know how someone would apply for Florida-issued benefits under her 6-year-old daughter’s name.

“She’s been on my case since 2018,” Robinson said.

Robinson told Channel 2 investigative reporter Ashli Lincoln that she was alerted about it in March by the Georgia Department of Human Services after her daughter’s SNAP benefits were revoked because of the Florida SNAP account.

She suspects a hacker was able to get into her account after logging into a fake link that was posing as the state.

“I went on Gateway, but it was a different login for me,” Robinson said.

Lincoln spoke exclusively with a former hacker who said it’s not unusual for a hacker to apply for benefits under a stolen identity.

“They’re selling them online,” he said.

He said card skimming and phishing are the two popular ways hackers are selling accounts.

Once a SNAP recipient logs in with their credentials, he said it provides the hacker with all the information they need.

From there, he said they gain your account info like your PIN and card number, and then sell it on the dark web or widely known apps like Telegram.

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“They’re going for dollars on the penny, you can go online and buy any login and any password for any company that’s on the web right now,” he told Lincoln.

Once they’re sold, he said users typically buy online and out of state where they can easily insert the card number.

The Georgia Department of Human Services told Channel 2 Action News that they’re working with their EBT card vendor to enhance security.

They’re also testing an app that would allow clients to lock and unlock their cards.

The state said offering chipped cards is not possible yet because most EBT vendor points of sale don’t support chipped cards.

DHS told Channel 2 Action News that 7,040 claims for replacement benefits had been submitted since Oct. 19, 2023, and more than 5,600 had been approved, according to data through Sept. 15.

Since last fall, DHS said they’d issued “more than $2.9 million in replacement benefits.”

All of the claims resulted from “SNAP benefits being skimmed or stolen by other fraudulent means.”

To protect their SNAP benefits, DHS said beneficiaries should:

  • NEVER share sensitive information with an unsolicited requestor.
  • Be wary of publicly posting information such as birthdays, children or pet names, workplaces, where you grew up, and other personal historical information on social media. Doing so can let scammers successfully answer challenge questions and reset passwords on your accounts without needing to interact with you at all.
  • DHS customers should maintain strong, unique passwords for their Georgia Gateway accounts and never share personal account information with anyone who is not a designated caregiver.
  • Save DHS’ primary phone number 877-423-4746 in your phone contacts, that way, when you need to reach us, you’ll have the correct phone number immediately available to you.
  • If you suspect that a call you receive is a scam, hang up and call DHS directly using the phone number you saved in your contacts.
  • If you suspect that an email, text message, website, or social media page/account is a scam, don’t open any links or attachments that you see. Instead, call DHS directly OR go to our website – dhs.georgia.gov.
  • Be advised that DHS may serve you via social media, but over the phone we will ask for your Social Security number and banking information for verification and when submitting a new application.

If you think you’ve been the victim of a scam involving your public benefits, DHS says to contact their Office of Inspector General at 877-423-4746, option 4, or email them.

SNAP fraud victims can request replacement benefits online here.

©2024 Cox Media Group

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