'It's devastating': Hundreds of Utahns are experiencing food stamp theft every month

SALT LAKE CITY — It wasn't until Tiffany Wirtz was at the checkout counter that she realized she had fallen victim to food stamp fraud.

"You're standing there just, you know, embarrassed, frustrated, don't know what to do," she said. "I just never thought it would happen."

Wirtz, who relies on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, had checked the balance on her account before heading to the grocery store last month. But by the time she was done adding items to her cart, her grocery money for the month was gone.

A series of payments to a business in New York had siphoned the money out of her benefit account, leaving just $1.30 to feed Wirtz and her 12-year-old son for the month.

"It doesn't make any sense why you would take from people that already are struggling. We're already barely keeping our heads above water just in our daily life. You know what I mean," Wirtz said. "And then just a hit like that is … it's devastating really."

Wirtz is not alone. The KSL Investigators have learned thousands of Utahns like her have been the target of online hackers over the last several months, according to data provided by the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

As of December, federal funds set aside to reimburse stolen benefits have run out and the state has not stepped in to fund reimbursements, leaving Utahns who fall victim to benefit fraud to figure out how to get by until their next monthly payment arrives.

Hundreds of Utahns are experiencing food stamp fraud each month

Utah's Department of Workforce Services received an average of more than 700 reports of benefit theft each month from October 2024 through January this year. The highest number of reports came in during December: 1,021.

As of February, the department said more than 87,000 Utah households are receiving SNAP benefits.

"Unfortunately, there has been some individuals where that benefit that they are eligible for has been stolen," said department deputy director Kevin Burt. "And so what we're trying to do is educate the public about what they can do, preventatively, to try and minimize this."

SNAP is a federally funded program that is administered by the state. Utah's Department of Workforce Services has shared prevention tips, including urging people to change their passwords and PIN numbers regularly, especially during the night before they're expecting benefits to be credited to their accounts.

"What we're trying to do is help people in the prevention part of it, but the actual solution part of it resides at a federal level," said Burt.

No more reimbursements from the federal government

A December memo from the U.S. Department of Agriculture informed states, "SNAP state agencies can choose to replace stolen benefits using state funds." But that didn't happen in Utah.

"In order to be able to do that, the Department of Workforce Services would need to have funds to be able to do that and there were not funds approved to be able to issue that type of reimbursement," Burt said.

But he also acknowledged the department didn't ask for the funds.

"It's because we're trying to prevent it from occurring," he said. "And again, while it is happening, it is happening recently, and it is also happening infrequently. What we're hopeful is that some of the other protections that we can do will be able to mitigate that even further."

Burt said the department had to submit its funding requests for this year's legislative session last summer, before it found out in December that federal reimbursement funds for stolen food stamps were running out.

"The funding can only be requested during a certain time period and it's only according to legislative sessions, but it was not discussed during this legislative session," Burt said.

Discussions about security improvements are ongoing

While prevention tips can be helpful for some Utahns, Wirtz said that help isn't enough to put food on the table.

"It's like, you're letting people down," she said. "You can't just live on stuff from (the) food bank, you know what I mean? Like, it doesn't work. You know, they help. It helps. But no way is it a fix for the problem."

Wirtz, and others experiencing the same issue who have contacted KSL, want the electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards they're issued to be more secure.

"It's not fair. It's not our fault," she said. "There should be some type of way for us to lock our card for us to protect ourselves."

Burt said the state is working with the card vendor to explore better security options.

In November, the USDA sent a letter to governors announcing states now have the option to implement SNAP EBT cards with chip technology. The letter notes, "As a reminder, costs to transition to chip cards for SNAP EBT are a state administrative expense that is reimbursed by the federal government at 50%."

Friday, Burt said chip cards are an option, but did not indicate whether the state will move in that direction.

Online thieves continue to target food stamp benefits

KSL has tried to find out whether the culprits behind instances of benefit theft in Utah and around the country are being actively investigated.

A spokesperson with the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it could not confirm or deny any investigation.

A spokesperson for the Utah Attorney General's Office wrote in an emailed statement, "We have seen these allegations in the media. We take them very seriously and are looking into them."

Burt said Utahns who report stolen benefits to his department are also provided information to report the theft to the USDA's Office of Inspector General.

The KSL Investigators also sent questions about the state's response to the ongoing benefit theft to Gov. Spencer Cox's office Thursday evening and are waiting to hear back.

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