RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia's top social services leader says the state is taking "cutting-edge" measures to crack down on theft of food assistance benefits, a problem that has impacted thousands of vulnerable families across the commonwealth.
Over the past several months, CBS 6 has been sharing the voices of those whose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits have been stolen through schemes like the skimming of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and scammers calling people to trick them into giving out sensitive information.
Impacted Virginians 'devastated' by benefit theft
“In my shoes, it's a devastation, and just like anybody else that's in my position, it's a devastation," said Ricky Wall, a Hanover County resident whose $150 in monthly benefits were stolen in both January and March of this year.
Multiple recipients who shared their experiences with CBS 6 reported that their benefits were swiped on the first of the month due to what appeared to be fraudulent out-of-state transactions.
For some, like Richmond City resident Lynette Hicks, they didn't find out until they got to the grocery store.
“I was embarrassed. I was devastated, because I had a cart full of groceries and no way to pay for them," said Hicks, whose $187 in monthly benefits were stolen in December of last year.
According to data provided by the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS), since July 2023, more than 20,000 recipients across the commonwealth reported a total of $10 million in stolen food stamps.
“If it continues to happen, and nothing is being done to stop it, I think things are going to hit the fan. I think things are going to get out of control," said Richmond mother Emily Stanley, who reported $1,400 in stolen benefits in February of this year.
For the past five months, CBS 6 has been reaching out to VDSS, the state agency which oversees the administration of SNAP, to ask what was being done to stop the theft.
But the agency remained mostly silent on our requests, with questions going either completely unanswered or unaddressed for weeks or months. But this week, Commissioner James Williams agreed to sit down for an interview with reporter Tyler Layne.
“I just wanted to ask why the agency hasn't been particularly responsive to these inquiries until now," Layne said.
“I appreciate the graciousness for a first-time commissioner, new in the role obviously, and I would just say we've been kind of working out our own thinking and our own process on responding," said Williams, who was appointed to the position by Governor Glenn Youngkin in July 2024.
Commissioner Williams 'laser focused on prevention'
Williams said benefit theft increased significantly late last year, just as a program that gave states authority to replace stolen benefits using federal funds was set to end in December. That meant families who were targeted by thieves starting January 2025 and beyond could no longer receive reimbursements.
“Do you feel like at that point, when the program ended, that the state was prepared and equipped to add extra support and protection and prevention efforts for families?” Layne asked.
"Well, this is a federal program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and so that problem was solved at the federal level, and Congress partly decided to stop the program because it was being abused, and fraudsters were taking advantage of it. And so, the state's role today is we're laser focused on prevention and identifying fraudsters," Williams said.
“So, what prevention efforts starting in January did the state have available on the prevention side of this?” Layne asked.
“We had been working on a number of prevention efforts. In the fall, we rolled out basically an interactive voice response system for an ability to identify who's calling in, so that people can't steal information as easily. In January, we rolled out a really important feature, which was a lock feature through our ConnectEBT app, where our clients can go, they can lock their benefit card, which is really important when they're not in the grocery store, because that's when most of the fraud is happening, and they can also lock out of state transactions on that app," Williams said.
“Do you feel like that’s enough?” Layne asked.
“No, this is going to take a fully concerted effort," Williams responded.
To that end, Governor Youngkin proposed in March a $1.5 million budget amendment for security enhancements to EBT cards, and it was approved by the General Assembly.
Williams said the money will be used to replace every user's EBT card, which currently can only be used to swipe at checkout, with a chip card that can be inserted at checkout. Chip card technology is viewed as the gold standard in the banking industry to prevent fraud and has been pointed to by experts as a top systemic solution to combatting SNAP benefit theft.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which manages SNAP at the federal level, has encouraged all states to implement chip card technology. Previously, only California and Oklahoma had begun that transition.
“Virginia would be leading the nation. We would be one of the first five states in the nation to be implementing this technology, and so with that and the lock/unlock feature, we really think we'd be kind of at the cutting edge," Williams said.
He said once the budget is in place, the state agency will begin purchasing cards this summer and hopes to start rolling them out next year.
Williams added that VDSS is also beefing up its program integrity team to tackle waste, fraud, and abuse across all benefit programs including SNAP. The team will work to identify unusual transactions to assist law enforcement investigations in tracking down criminals.
CBS 6 reached out to every local, state, and federal agency that investigates and prosecutes crimes in the Richmond metro, and none reported any recent charges or prosecutions related to SNAP benefit theft.
“Do you feel like these investigations are being taken very seriously? A lot of times when we're talking to victims, they want to see these people held accountable," Layne said.
“Because the cases are so complex, and sometimes there are teams or organizations that are defrauding our clients, it's really difficult for local police, sometimes to have the right types of information in order to investigate, and then likewise, for prosecutors," Williams said.
Williams said last month, the Bedford Police Department worked with the U.S. Secret Service to arrest a Romanian citizen who was accused of installing skimming devices at Walmart stories all across the Mid-Atlantic region. EBT card users were believed to have been targeted.
According to the Lynchburg Police Department, the suspect, Florin Doroiman, was arrested in Richmond.
Williams said he wants his program integrity team to be able to provide better evidence to law enforcement agencies and builder stronger cases that he hopes will "translate into more prosecutions and then hopefully fewer fraudsters on the street."
“We are going to continue to work against these fraudsters so that they end up behind bars, and we're going to protect Virginia's families as much as we can," Williams said.
As he said prevention is Virginia's top priority, there are no plans to implement a benefit replacement program at the state level.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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