Some of the most vulnerable people in society need help buying food for their families, but a concerning number across the country have had their SNAP benefits stolen.
Scripps News did a major national investigation into this in December, exposing how this costs taxpayers millions of dollars.
They gave us the data from Virginia that highlights the problems in our state, and the News 3 Investigative Team continues to follow through on the problem locally.
Bianca Sweeney from Norfolk has three children. She said on Mar. 4, she opened her SNAP benefits account to see the balance had dropped from $953 to just $61. She said she saw charges from Walgreens and CVS locations in New York.
Sweeney was distraught and worried about putting food on the table.
"The first night, I cried and cried and cried. I stayed up all night so frustrated like, ‘what am I going to do?'" said Sweeney.
Scripps News' investigation states there were 106,000 cases of stolen food benefits across 46 states, costing taxpayers more than $70 million.
Scripps News
Scripps News survey finds $70M stolen from food assistance program
Here in Virginia, the Department of Social Services received 1,553 complaints of stolen benefits between July 2023 and October 31, according to Scripps News' investigation. That’s 1,260 households impacted with losses of over $809,000.
They reported reimbursing almost $700,000 of those claims.
Sweeney said she is currently waiting to get her money reimbursed and got help from a relative to make ends meet this month.
The Department of Social Services says criminals use different scams to obtain SNAP benefits.
They said they’ll send text messages to try and trick people into providing personal information, set up skimming devices and other forms of fraud.
Sweeney said she has no idea how people hundreds of miles away got her information. She also never heard of scammers taking SNAP benefits before.
“This is just a first for me and it’s very surprising [and] frustrating, but still got to do what you got to do in life,” said Sweeney.
If you think you are the victim of a scam, the Virginia Department of Social Services says you must notify your local Department of Social Services right away. There, you can begin the process of applying for reimbursement funds, the department says.
For more information on what to do if you're scammed and how to protect yourself, click here.
