According to officials, Oregonians who get extra federal food aid should be especially careful about fraud because if their monthly benefits are stolen, they would be permanently lost.
Benefits lost due to fraud were formerly replaced by the federal government, but that practice was altered late last year. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits that have been stolen are no longer being replaced by the federal government.
According to representatives of Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, it could result in a complete loss of tens of thousands of dollars in SNAP payments in Oregon, mostly due to skimming. This occurs when a gadget is placed inside a credit card reader and, when the card is passed through the reader, financial data is stolen.
In this method, only a small percentage lose their benefits. Nearly 447,000 households in Oregon are SNAP recipients. Almost 200 households lost $77,000 in food assistance when their benefits were taken between October 1 and December 20.
The average SNAP-eligible household receives $310 per month; this amount is not sufficient to cover all of their food expenses, but it is frequently essential for families in need.
The Oregon Department of Human Services’ press secretary, Jake Sunderland, advised SNAP recipients to adopt the following safety measures to guard against fraud:
-
Only manage your account through theebtEDGE website
or mobile app, which can be downloaded from the
Apple App Store
or
Google Play
.
-
Freeze your card right away after each use and unfreeze it before you make purchases and block purchases made outside of Oregon or online throughCardholder.ebtEDGE.com
.
-
Keep your PIN secret and cover the keypad when you enter it.
-
Check your account activity regularly andcancel your card
immediately if you see purchases you didn t make.
— The Oregon Capital Chronicle’s Lynne Terry
The largest state-focused nonprofit news agency in the country, States Newsroom, includes Oregon Capital Chronicle.
