Arkansas Advocate: SNAP recipients get new fraud reporting/prevention help

By SONNY ALBARADO | Arkansas Advocate

Increased scams aimed at defrauding food assistance recipients prompted the Arkansas Department of Human Services to create a new fraud prevention section of its website, the agency said Friday.

Available at ar.gov/snapfraud, the web section includes a series of preventive tips that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients should follow to help protect their accounts as well as a new form where victims of SNAP fraud can report stolen benefits to DHS.

“We are continuing to support all efforts to bring the perpetrators of this fraud to justice and to ensure that SNAP accounts are secure,” said Mary Franklin, director of the Division of County Operations within DHS, said in a press release.

While the department cannot replace lost or stolen SNAP benefits, the new centralized resource for submitting fraud reports will help officials identify trends that might help investigations into these crimes. Victims are encouraged to also report any fraud to law enforcement.

DHS is working with state and federal partners as well as the current Arkansas Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card vendor, Conduent, to explore ways that SNAP accounts can be protected from future fraud attempts.

“We need Arkansans who receive SNAP benefits to take steps to prevent this unauthorized access,” Franklin said. “Most importantly, they should immediately set a new four-digit PIN that only they know, and continue to change the PIN every month. This simple step goes a long way in locking scammers out.”

SNAP recipients can reset their pins by calling the EBT Customer Service line at 1-800-997-9999 and follow the prompts to reset their PIN. This is an important step to take before new benefits are added to cards, which typically occurs beginning around the 4th of each month.

DHS offered SNAP recipients tips on protection themselves from scammers:

• Set a PIN known only to them and not commonly used
• Keep the PIN secret; do not share with anyone outside the household.
• Check EBT account regularly for unauthorized charges. Change the PIN immediately if any are found.
• Check card readers to make sure nothing is overlayed or attached to the swiper or keypad to avoid “skimming.”
• Never reveal the PIN to anyone. DHS will not reach out via email, social media or text to ask for a PIN.
• Avoid saving an EBT card as a payment method for online shopping.

SNAP provides food assistance to eligible households to cover a portion of a household’s food budget, and benefits are distributed through an EBT card. SNAP benefits can be used to buy eligible food items for eating at home. Additional information about the program is available at humanservices.arkansas.gov/u/snap