'...At the mercy of thieves': the growing crisis of EBT theft and its impact on families

Summary#summary

SNAP provides essential assistance to low-income families across the U.S., helping millions of people put food on the table each month. EBT theft, often perpetrated by organized gangs of foreign criminals, harms these vulnerable families, and robs the American taxpayer. Ending EBT theft requires a collaborative effort. Propel continues to innovate with features, to help customers protect their benefits, and insights, to support policymakers in designing effective, systematic solutions.

Propel’s 2025 Survey of EBT Theft Awareness and Impact ran from February 1-14, 2025 and collected responses from 11,895 EBT cardholders nationwide, including 2,576 victims of EBT theft. The survey reveals that:

EBT recipients are trying to protect themselves from theft#ebt-recipients-are-trying-to-protect-themselves-from-theft

• 89% of respondents took steps to protect themselves from EBT theft, but reliable, systemic protections are not yet available
• 62% of respondents are “very” or “extremely” concerned about EBT theft

EBT theft is underreported in official statistics#ebt-theft-is-underreported-in-official-statistics

• 39% of victims did not file for reimbursement—65% of whom said they didn’t know they could file
• Propel estimates the true cost of EBT theft in 2024 may be a corresponding 39% higher than reported

EBT theft causes real harm#ebt-theft-causes-real-harm

• 58% of EBT theft victims lost at least $250, and almost 30% lost more than $500
• 46% of victims reported borrowing money or going into debt
• 30% lost confidence in government due to their victimization

EBT theft increased in 2024#ebt-theft-increased-in-2024

• Propel user reports of unidentified transactions doubled from August to December 2024. Approved requests for reimbursement increased by 25% from Q3 2024 to Q4 2024
• 43% of EBT theft victims report that their stolen benefits were spent or withdrawn outside of their state, compared to 35% last year

Bottom line: EBT recipients are trying to protect themselves from EBT theft, but it remains widespread, harmful, and shows no signs of slowing down.

The problem of EBT theft#the-problem-of-ebt-theft

EBT theft happens in several ways. EBT cards rely on magnetic stripe technology, which makes them vulnerable to illegal card skimmers. Recently, California began distributing some chip cards; Oklahoma is expected to begin rollout later in 2025. Beyond skimming, some benefits recipients may be victims of phishing scams, in which they receive texts or phone calls urging them to hand over their EBT information. Statewide sources may also be contributing to the issue. In the past year, state employees were charged with illegally draining SNAP benefits in California, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin. Cybersecurity firms have identified several additional methods for compromising EBT cards at scale. Methods of EBT theft continue to evolve, outpacing efforts to prevent them.

State-reported data from the USDA indicates that over 457,000 households receiving SNAP were victimized between the second quarter of FY 2023 and the fourth quarter of FY 2024. These households successfully filed stolen benefits claims worth more than $220 million. In the fourth quarter of FY 2024 alone, 146,880 successful claims for reimbursement were filed, totaling $69.4 million.

New data from the 2025 Propel Survey of EBT Theft Awareness and Impact indicates that the real number of victims is substantially higher, as 39% of theft victims said they did not file for reimbursement. This suggests the true value of SNAP funds stolen from vulnerable Americans in 2024 may be 39% higher than reported.

Propel’s internal data suggests the rate of theft increased substantially in the closing months of 2024, as user reports of unidentified transactions (a proxy for theft) doubled between August to December 2024.

Why survey EBT theft?#why-survey-ebt-theft

EBT theft is an urgent policy issue that undermines a core safety net program, puts vulnerable families at further risk of harm, and degrades trust in institutions—30% of victims of EBT theft said they had lost confidence in government. Given that Propel serves more than 5 million households that use EBT each month, we are uniquely positioned to explore people’s experience of EBT theft and its impact.

With the end of the federal EBT theft reimbursement program, victims have few options, and the need for prevention is greater than ever. Some states offer card-locking or out-of-state transaction blocking. These are valuable investments, but they are not universally available, nor do they match the security tools available in mainstream financial products. Policymakers need insights from actual program participants in order to make the best decisions possible related to EBT theft prevention and mitigation.

Results of the 2025 Propel Survey of EBT Theft Awareness & Impact#results-of-the-2025-propel-survey-of-ebt-theft-awareness-and-impact

Rising concern over EBT theft#rising-concern-over-ebt-theft

The 2025 survey results indicate that SNAP recipients are significantly more concerned about EBT theft than in 2024:

• Awareness of EBT theft is up 46% compared to last year
• 34% of respondents said they “regularly” hear about EBT theft
• 62% of respondents said they were “very” or “extremely” concerned about EBT theft

Nearly all survey respondents (89%) took steps to protect themselves from theft, including frequently changing their PIN (26%), covering keypads when entering their PIN (38%), and locking their card when not in use (17%).

Each of these tools and methods places the burden on customers to protect themselves. However, none of these steps provides the truly systemic protection that SNAP recipients need to know their benefits are safe from theft. For instance, card locking and blocking out-of-state transactions do not prevent cards from being skimmed. Even an extremely vigilant user of card locking must make their account vulnerable to being drained by criminal actors in order to purchase food for themselves. Blocking out-of-state transactions provides no protection to the 45% of victims whose benefits were stolen in state.

Survey results also show consumers engaging in some behaviors that likely provide no meaningful protection, and may even harm their interests, such as avoiding online shopping (21%) and certain brick-and-mortar stores (17%).

How EBT theft causes real harm#how-ebt-theft-causes-real-harm

Our survey results indicate that EBT theft has substantial human and financial costs, and that the damage lingers beyond the month in which theft occurs. Among households that lost benefits to EBT theft:

• 57% reported skipping or cutting back on meals
• 46% reported taking on debt
• 39% reported struggling to pay bills or rent
• 30% reported losing confidence in the government
• 62% reported increased stress and anxiety

SNAP reaches 1 in 8 people in the U.S., including 1 in 5 children. 86% of SNAP benefits go to households that include a child, elderly person, or person with disabilities. It is clear that EBT theft is hurting already vulnerable families.

The dollar toll per victim is also significant. The survey results indicate that EBT theft typically takes a significant portion of monthly benefits:

• Over half of EBT theft victims reported losing at least $250
• Almost a third of victims reported losing over $500

Victims also reported losing their benefits on or close to their deposit day, suggesting criminals are strategically timing theft to take the maximum amount possible. SNAP recipients typically spend their entire benefit to $0 in a given month, and many eagerly await their deposits. Finding out their account has been wiped out is financially and psychologically devastating to many.

Reimbursement was valuable, but underutilized#reimbursement-was-valuable-but-underutilized

While it was available to recipients, reimbursement for EBT theft offered a valuable lifeline to victims. Unfortunately, far too many victims did not pursue reimbursement. According to the survey results, 39% of EBT theft victims did not file for reimbursement, and 65% of that group said they didn’t even know reimbursement was an option.

This finding is consistent with Propel’s 2024 survey on the topic. At that time 36% of victims of EBT theft reported not filing for reimbursement, with lack of awareness serving as the most commonly cited rationale.

Where is EBT theft happening?#where-is-ebt-theft-happening

EBT theft is a national problem, affecting red states and blue states alike, across urban, suburban, and rural areas.

Table 1. Top 10 states by approved stolen benefits claims (Q4 FY 2024)

Source: USDA, SNAP Replacement of Stolen Benefits Dashboard

Consumers also reported a substantial increase in out-of-state theft. 43% of victims reported that the theft occurred out-of-state in 2025, up from 35% in 2024.

Closing the EBT security gap#closing-the-ebt-security-gap

Two years after Congress first acted on the issue of theft, California is the only state to improve EBT card security by introducing chip cards. Oklahoma is next in line, with rollout expected in 2025. Chip cards are an important, systemic protection that can massively reduce the incidence of theft. In 2019, Visa publicly reported that their rollout of chip cards helped lead to an 87% reduction in counterfeit fraud dollars for merchants who had completed the chip upgrade.

Additional action is needed to protect American families and ensure that EBT theft doesn’t push vulnerable households into greater hunger, debt, and financial insecurity. Publicly available evidence suggests foreign criminal enterprises play a large role in EBT theft, and closing down their pipeline of funds in one or several states will simply shift their activities into other states.

How Propel fights EBT theft#how-propel-fights-ebt-theft

In 2024, Propel took numerous steps to combat EBT theft, including providing information to users to raise awareness about theft and reimbursement processes. In over 30 states, we empowered users to take advantage of features offered through their state EBT portals to block out-of-state transactions. Thanks to robust promotion, 20% of Propel users regularly enable these features in states where they are available, blocking millions of dollars of fraudulent transactions in 2024.

Propel has also enabled card locking features in California and Oklahoma, driving a 500% increase in adoption of this tool among users in both states. Additionally, we developed a proprietary suspicious transaction monitoring tool. In 2024, it flagged more than 425,000 transactions as suspicious, and prompted Propel users to immediately review them.

In 2025 we’re exploring enabling out-of-state transaction blocking and card locking in even more states, and working to make users aware of the importance of these options in order to help them protect themselves from EBT theft until systemic protections arrive.

Propel users speak out about EBT theft#propel-users-speak-out-about-ebt-theft