As thousands of Brooklyn families struggle to put food on the table, another threat is emptying their grocery budgets: thieves stealing their SNAP benefits.

At a rally on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall on June 4, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and representatives of 20 social service organizations called for urgent action to address the growing crisis of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit theft across New York City, particularly in Brooklyn.

The New York State Office of the State Comptroller reported about 85,000 SNAP skimming cases totaling nearly $40 million in stolen benefits between 2023 and 2024. Since 2023, Brooklyn and the Bronx have accounted for 60% of reimbursement claims.

SNAP benefit theft most often occurs through skimming schemes, in which criminals install illegal devices on ATMs or point-of-sale terminals to capture cardholders’ EBT card information and PINs. The stolen data is then used to create counterfeit cards and drain victims’ accounts.

Benefits are also stolen through phishing scams via text messages, emails or phone calls, in which criminals impersonate state agency employees and claim there is an emergency with recipients’ SNAP benefits to gain access to PINs and personal information. In other cases, thieves exploit numbers assigned to authorized retailers to access payment networks that process SNAP transactions. Once they gain access, they empty recipients’ accounts.

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and community members called for urgent action to address SNAP benefit theft.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

At the rally, Reynoso outlined several proposals he detailed in a letter to the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) and the New York City Department of Social Services (DDS), calling for stronger protections for SNAP recipients.

Reynoso is urging the creation of a dedicated “Office of SNAP Fraud” within HRA/DSS to investigate fraud patterns, coordinate enforcement efforts, and centralize reporting and data collection. He also called on state agencies to accelerate the transition from magnetic-stripe EBT cards to more secure chip-enabled cards.

While Gov. Kathy Hochul committed to upgrading New York’s EBT cards in her January State of the State address, and OTDA has said New Yorkers would begin using the improved cards by February 2027, Reynoso called for greater transparency about the rollout timeline.

Other proposals include stronger interagency coordination to combat fraud, accessible reporting channels for SNAP theft victims and a multilingual public education campaign on skimming prevention.

The Brooklyn Beep and advocates also called for a dedicated victim reimbursement fund for SNAP theft. After the American Relief Act of 2025 did not extend provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act passed by Congress in late 2022, which allowed states to use federal funds to replace stolen SNAP benefits, victims, including many families, were left without food assistance and with no way to recover their losses.

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso called for urgent action to address SNAP benefit theft.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann Advocates called for action to combat SNAP benefit theft and better protect New Yorkers who rely on food assistance programs.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

“We’re in the richest city in the world, and New Yorkers are going hungry every single day. This is a travesty, and that is why it’s so important,” Reynoso said. “SNAP helped families like mine survive with dignity, and New York has a responsibility to preserve that dignity. But across New York, as SNAP is under attack, families are losing their benefits to scams, skimming in particular, where SNAP data is stolen, while swiping EBT cards is a serious issue plaguing these recipients. Food is being stolen directly from families and working New Yorkers, and Brooklyn is at the heart of this crisis.”

Kong Leung Chan spoke on behalf of his son, who was a victim of SNAP benefit theft. His family was “shocked” to learn that criminals had stolen more than $500 in benefits, Leung Chan recalled.

“When benefits are stolen, there is no help, no support. Just more pain and less food,” Leung Chan said. “That is why I’m here today for my son and all the families like us. We need action; we need better protection for families.”

Rabbi Niederman of the United Jewish Organization said there is already a stigma attached to EBT recipients, who can feel even more humiliated when their cards are declined at the checkout line.

“Let us please understand, we are not talking about theft of money, that’s not the issue. We are here for one reason, because our refrigerators, the shelves where we keep [food], our children should have to eat are empty,” Niederman said.

Rabbi Niederman of the United Jewish Organization noted that there was already a stigma attached to EBT holders.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

Val Xelo, a community organizer for Mixteca, shared the story of a community member who regularly checked her SNAP balance and believed her benefits had been cut because her account showed no funds. It wasn’t until she received a recertification letter that she realized she had become a victim of SNAP benefit theft.

“Confused about the situation, she visited the SNAP office for assistance,” Xelo said. “Unfortunately, she was told that she would need to wait until next month for the funds to be submitted to her new card. She still does not understand how her account was compromised, and still feels very vulnerable, and that the situation may continue to happen, especially as the funds are being taken directly from her account.”

The Council of Peoples Organization provides services to low-income Muslim and South Asian immigrants and connects families with vital programs such as SNAP.

Its founder and executive director, Mohammad Razvi, told Brooklyn Paper it was devastating to see families his organization had helped enroll in SNAP lose their benefits to fraud.

“Especially when there are families with kids. Even individually, it’s not fair, but people who have kids have been scammed just because they went to a grocery store and there was a skimmer, and [criminals] took [their benefits],” Razvi said.