Houston, TX – A Houston mother left her cart overflowing with groceries at the checkout after realizing that thieves had emptied her family’s SNAP benefits.
Crystal Yanez has become yet another casualty in a growing trend of benefit theft that has drawn the scrutiny of federal authorities.
A single mother of five, Yanez discovered her account had been drained when her card was rejected at the store. The money was allocated over 1,100 miles away in Durham, North Carolina—a location she has never set foot in.
“I had just lost my job, so I was depending on that to go through the month until I found a job,” Yanez said.
A federal investigation has uncovered that organised crime groups are employing sophisticated skimming devices to pilfer electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card information from SNAP recipients nationwide, resulting in taxpayer losses surpassing $380 million in the last 18 months.
Thieves are deploying almost invisible electronic gadgets on retail payment systems, secretly recording card details as SNAP beneficiaries use their EBT cards.
Fraudulent cards are generated from the pilfered data, draining victims’ accounts frequently located hundreds of miles from the original theft site.
“Across the country, the Secret Service is leading an initiative to combat transnational organized crime groups that are specifically targeting our benefits programs here to the tune of $18 billion a year,” said Michael Peck, Secret Service Assistant Special Agent.
Operation Flagship
In a series of coordinated efforts, the Secret Service, alongside local law enforcement,t has achieved remarkable outcomes:
- New York City: 55 skimming devices discovered and removed
- Washington State: Four devices located and seized
Detective Daniel Allesandrino of the NYPD Financial Crimes Task Force highlighted the critical need to dismantle criminal networks.
“The biggest thing is to disrupt the networks, and by seizing these devices, we’re saving money from the victims who need it,” said Det. Allesandrino.
