HOUSTON – Some of the most vulnerable people in the Houston community are having money, that’s meant to help them feed their family, stolen the moment they get the funds.
The crime is called SNAP Skimming and as of late, it’s leaving people across the country without money.
SNAP is short for the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program and is the largest food assistance program in the country.
Crooks are stealing victims’ SNAP card info using sophisticated, yet old-school card skimmers. They’re then draining their accounts once the money drops in, leaving people with dollars or even pennies.
“I tried to ring up something and it was declined and I checked and noticed that they were all missing basically the same day they were deposited,” said Jacob Premeaux.
Jacob is living with a cognitive disability. He relies on the mere $260 he receives monthly to put food in his fridge.
Gage Goulding: “Your benefits were gone?”
Jacob Premeaux: “Yeah.”
Gage Goulding: “And you didn’t use them?”
Jacob Premeaux: “And I didn’t. It wasn’t my charge, no.”
Gage Goulding: “Were you confused? Were you wondering where did the money go?”
Jacob Premeaux: “Yes.”
Karen Premeaux: “It really upset him, you know, that’s his lifeline. So the food stamps really help out and when that happened and then now twice in a row it’s been really devastating for him.”
That’s right. It’s happened twice. Once in May and now again in late July. Both instances happening just hours after his monthly benefits were dropped in.
If your SNAP card gets comprimised, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission says you should get rid of it, get a new one and change your pin.
Jacob did all of that, but yet someone stole his card information again.
“I was concerned on how they did it, honestly, and why. And then it happened again last month,” he said.
That answer is easy, SNAP cards in 49 states, except California, don’t have security chips or contactless tech, just that old-fashioned magnetic strip. It’s the oldest method out there and the easiest one to steal.
On average last year, there were 2,000 stolen SNAP benefit reports filed in Texas every month last year.
Through the five five months of this year, it was a quarter of that, just 500.
The drop is likely due to the lack of federal funding to replace stolen benefits, leaving people like Jacob struggling to find their next meal.
“This caregiver and I are being real creative about trying to salvage the food that we’ve been getting and stretching the meals and it’s helping, but it would be nice for him to be able to eat three times a day,” his mother, Karen said.
The state has been working on addind a security chip to SNAP cards, but they haven’t done so yet.
KPRC 2 asked for an update on when that could happen, but we haven’t heard back yet.
