Athens County sees a sharp increase in thieves stealing funds from EBT cards

By: Arielle Teppert
Posted on: Friday, September 20, 2024

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 ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — A few weeks ago, Jane’s elderly mother was doing her weekly food shopping when she discovered a problem with her EBT card.  

“She went to the store at Piggly Wiggly, and when she left, she went to another store, and it was declined,” said Jane, which is not her real name because she wished to remain anonymous.  

Thieves depleted her remaining EBT funds in minutes.  

 “She found out that there has been a hit on her card, and they left her three dollars in her balance,” Jane said.  

Jane’s mom is not alone: Athens County Job and Family Services says in the last two months around 330 Athens residents had their EBT funds stolen. EBT is a federal program that provides low-income people with money for food.  

“It’s an issue. It’s an issue they need to address very quickly,” Jane said. 

The number of fraud cases in Ohio has increased substantially from last year. 

From Oct. 1, 2022, to March 8, 2024, the state issued $1.4 million in reimbursements to approximately 3,400 Ohioans, according to Bill Teets, director of communications at Ohio’s Job and Family Services department.

Within the past six months alone the state has issued an additional $5.4 million dollars in reimbursements. 

Thieves are using a skimmer to get people’s EBT card information, said Matt Damschroder, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. 

“Fraudsters put a device on the point-of-sale item, someone slides their card in, and then the information from the magnetic stripe is obtained,” he said.  

But Jean Demosky, the Athens County director of Job and Family Services, said she believes the recent cases don’t involve skimming.  

“I don’t think that’s what’s happening in Athens myself,” Demosky said. “I think it’s the other way, which is where they intercept the traffic that is verifying a card’s number — pin number — and that there’s a balance on it.”

Athens county officials are taking precautions by alerting residents through mailings and social media. 

As state officials investigate, Demosky is worried about the impact of a lot more people falling victim to theft after the end of the month.

“The act that Congress put in place a year or two ago that allows us to reimburse people who’ve experienced the loss ends on September 30, and there isn’t something to replace it at this time,” she said. “So, I’m extremely concerned about that.”

Damschroder said officials are looking into the cost of embedding chips into cards to minimize skimming.

But right now, the state would have to pay for the cards with chips. Damschroder said upgraded cards should be required across the country. 

“Hopefully the federal government will move in the direction of requiring all states, and paying for it, to put chips on the EBT cards,” he said.

Meanwhile, state officials recommend people freeze cards between uses and change PINs before new funds are loaded at the beginning of the month.