Urgent SNAP warning as recipients risk losing $555 MILLION if system doesn’t change

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A MAJOR warning has been issued over SNAP theft, with lawmakers racing to stop hundreds of millions of dollars from vanishing from benefit cards.

The push comes as Congress weighs a new bill aimed at overhauling the security of the cards millions of Americans use to buy food.

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SNAP could lose about $555 million to fraud unless the system is modernisedCredit: Alamy

The bill would also force USDA to update its cybersecurity regulations for SNAP cardsCredit: Getty

A USDA inspector general report said SNAP could lose about $555 million to fraud unless the system is modernised.

That figure combines $322 million already replaced between October 2022 and December 2024 with another $233 million the watchdog forecast could be stolen in fiscal 2025 and 2026.

At the center of the fix is the Enhanced Cybersecurity for SNAP Act.

The bill would push states to move away from old magnetic-stripe EBT cards and toward chip-enabled cards that are harder to clone.

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Lawmakers say the current cards are highly exposed to skimming, a scam in which thieves copy card data from the stripe and make duplicates to drain benefits.

The USDA watchdog said the Food and Nutrition Service has not required states to adopt security standards strong enough to detect and prevent SNAP benefit theft.

New York lawmakers are among the bill’s leading backers.

Representatives Dan Goldman and Mike Lawler are co-sponsors in the House.

Goldman said the measure would help New York as it starts upgrading its EBT cards and trying to stop SNAP theft.

Lawler said the goal is to bring SNAP cards up to the same security standards Americans expect from their banks.

The proposal is also bipartisan in the Senate.

Senators Ron Wyden, Bill Cassidy and John Fetterman have backed the same push to strengthen card security.

Supporters say this is not a small paperwork tweak.

They say criminals have been exploiting lax cybersecurity for years while families with low incomes are left without money meant for groceries.

The bill would also require the USDA to update its SNAP card cybersecurity regulations, which lawmakers say have not kept pace with current fraud methods.

That matters because the old-style magnetic stripe is the weak point.

Most proposals now focus on integrated circuit chip cards, the same type of protection commonly used on regular debit and credit cards.

The scale of the problem has already been felt on the ground.

City Limits reported that in New York alone, $14 million in SNAP benefits were stolen in the first half of last year.

The federal bill is designed to give states funding and guidance as they shift to the newer cards.

It is not the only SNAP change hitting recipients right now.

Separate work rule changes for some able-bodied adults without dependents began on March 1, 2026, in places including New York, adding to the sense of upheaval around the program.