Nutrition Assistance: USDA Should Comprehensively Assess Benefit Theft Prevention Measures States Are Implementing

What GAO Found

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is intended to help low-income individuals and families obtain a more nutritious diet by supplementing their income with benefits to purchase food. USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) oversees SNAP and provides guidance and technical assistance to states that administer it. Benefits are loaded onto Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards.

SNAP benefit theft occurs when thieves use unauthorized, electronic methods to take control of an EBT account without a recipient's knowledge. EBT cards are a target for theft because most cards do not yet have certain theft-prevention features, such as embedded microchips, which are standard in the commercial debit and credit card industry and help prevent card fraud.

Security Features of SNAP EBT Cards

FNS has taken some steps to help prevent SNAP EBT theft. In October 2022, the agency provided guidance to state SNAP agencies on tools and resources that they may use to prevent EBT theft, such as allowing SNAP recipients to block specific types of transactions in advance that are likely to be fraudulent. In addition, as of May 2025, the agency was developing a proposed rule that it said would require state SNAP agencies to implement certain card security measures. Further, FNS has four pilot project projects underway, including one that involves automatically blocking potentially fraudulent transactions, such as purchases made outside of the SNAP recipient's home state. According to FNS, thieves largely use stolen SNAP account information to make purchases in a different state.

For their part, state SNAP agencies have implemented a variety of measures to prevent EBT card skimming—collecting key card information through an unauthorized device— and related fraud. As of May 2025, one state—California—has modernized its SNAP EBT cards to include microchips, which better align with credit and debit card industry security standards to help prevent benefit theft. Six other states have ongoing SNAP EBT card modernization projects.

However, FNS has not comprehensively assessed what benefit theft prevention measures state SNAP agencies are implementing, including those it recommended in October 2022. As a result, the agency does not have information to determine the extent to which these measures are being used across states and any barriers to their full implementation and effectiveness. Conducting such an assessment would also allow FNS to target assistance to state SNAP agencies and help reduce fraud, which is consistent with its fiscal year 2025 priorities. GAO recommends that USDA comprehensively assess the SNAP benefit theft prevention measures state agencies are implementing to help enhance its efforts to address EBT theft and provide assistance to states. We provided a draft of this report to USDA for review and comment. USDA did not provide comments on the report.

Why GAO Did This Study

Hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits have been reported stolen from SNAP recipients' EBT cards in recent years. SNAP will provide approximately $96 billion in benefits to about 43 million people in fiscal year 2025. Theft of benefits could leave victims without means to purchase food, particularly since benefits stolen on or after December 21, 2024, are not eligible for replacement with federal funds.

The Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 includes a provision for GAO to among other things examine efforts to prevent SNAP EBT theft. This report provides information about the steps USDA has taken to prevent SNAP benefit theft and evaluates the extent to which USDA assesses how state SNAP agencies have implemented measures to prevent such theft. To provide this information, GAO conducted a content analysis, reviewed relevant USDA guidance and other documentation, and interviewed and obtained written responses from USDA officials. We also interviewed knowledgeable stakeholder organizations, including EBT processors. We selected these organizations because they have national perspectives on EBT systems and measures that can help prevent SNAP benefit theft.