State agencies approved 753,929 claims for stolen SNAP benefits, with a combined replacement value of $360,441,561, through the second quarter of federal fiscal 2025, according to USDA’s records cited in its October 23 proposal. That is the first half of a fiscal year that began October 1, 2024. For a household whose card was skimmed more recently, the federal replacement program behind those numbers has ended.
What the 753,929 claims and $360 million actually count
The figures appear in USDA’s proposed rule on EBT card security, which says that as of the second quarter of federal fiscal year 2025, 753,929 claims for replacement of stolen SNAP benefits “have been approved across the nation, with a total replacement value of $360,441,561.” Skimming is the theft in question: a device copies card data and thieves drain the balance.
The scope matters. These are approved replacement claims, counted through March 2025, not a single year and not every theft. The proposal says the numbers may not capture the full scope of benefit theft, because they cover only claims that were filed and approved. Divided out, the average approved claim comes to about $478.
Behind each claim is a household that lost a month of groceries. The proposal calls the total at least $360 million in stolen benefits that have been replaced. In the same proposal, the department says it believes chip and NFC cards will significantly reduce SNAP benefit theft.
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The replacement money stopped for thefts after December 20, 2024
USDA’s stolen benefits page explains why the count ends where it does. Congress let federal funds replace stolen benefits for thefts starting October 1, 2022, and a continuing resolution moved the end date to December 20, 2024. The page says the American Relief Act, 2025 “did not extend this authority for benefits stolen beyond December 20, 2024.”
USDA’s guidance on the sunset is blunt about the line. Benefits stolen on or after December 21, 2024 “are not eligible for replacement using Federal funds.” A household with a theft before that date can still submit a claim to its state agency after December 20, 2024, and states are told to replace benefits when the claim meets the requirements in their approved state plan.
A state may choose to cover later thefts itself. The guidance says state SNAP agencies “can choose to replace stolen benefits using State funds,” and it adds that there is no guarantee the federal government would reimburse them. Whether a particular state does so is a question for that state’s SNAP office.
Reporting on the federal side continues even though the money has stopped. The sunset guidance says states must keep submitting data reports to USDA for every replacement issued with federal funds. The proposal states its totals to the dollar for a period that has closed.
What a household with a skimmed card can do
The first step is to see what happened. USDA’s page tells households to check the EBT account regularly for charges that were not made and to change the PIN right away if any appear. A PIN that is a simple run such as 1111 or 1234 is the kind USDA warns against.
The second step is to report. USDA says suspected skimming should be reported to the local SNAP office. The page lists no federal reporting deadline, and the sunset guidance says only that claims must be timely under the state’s approved plan, so the safe course is to report as soon as the loss is noticed.
Records help. A screenshot or printout of the balance before and after, the dates of the unauthorized charges and the name of anyone spoken to at the state office all become the file a state reviews. A claim that lists the date and the dollar amount of each charge is easier to review than one that does not.
One more warning from USDA: state agencies and EBT processors will never call or text to ask for a PIN or card number. Anyone who phones or texts asking for either one is not the state agency. The page also advises changing the PIN once a month, right before the benefit issuance date.
Chip cards are the proposed fix, and few states have them
The proposal says that as of August 2026, seven states have issued EBT chip cards, with more in progress. Maryland was the fourth, and its human services department said on October 1 that fraud claims are “dropping dramatically,” though it had not yet released numbers.
USDA’s EBT overview page is the starting point for state contacts and the department’s skimming prevention tools. Most households will still be on magnetic-stripe cards for some time, since the proposal gives states a two-year timeframe after a final rule to issue chip and NFC cards.
That timeline sets the exposure. The cards in most wallets today carry the same stripe that skimmers copy, and the replacement money that covered 753,929 claims no longer exists federally. The open question for a household is what the state will do if the balance is taken tomorrow.
Did food-stamp money already leave the card?
Once federal replacement ended for thefts after December 20, 2024, what a skimmed household recovers turns on how fast it reports and how well the loss is documented. A balance noticed late, with no dates and no screenshots, gives a state little to approve.
The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit lays out a first-hour recovery plan and a fraud evidence and report log, so the dates, amounts and names are on one page before the call to the SNAP office. Part 1 is the First-Hour Clock, and Part 8 adds printables and contacts.
Get the Senior Fraud Defense Kit’s first-hour plan and evidence log for stolen EBT charges →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
