As victims of the federal government’s EBT (food stamp) card skimming scam continue to suffer, a bill to resume compensation support for these victims is being promoted at the federal level. On February 14th, Federal Representative Grace Meng held a press conference at the Queens Public Library Flushing Branch, announcing, “Last September, an extension of compensation for victims of the EBT card skimming scam was included in a stopgap spending bill but was removed from the final bill, leaving many victims currently without compensation.” She added, “I plan to introduce a victim compensation support bill that includes provisions to strengthen the security of EBT cards in the federal House of Representatives soon.”
The press conference was attended by New York State Senator John Liu, New York State Assembly Member Sam Berger, and New York City Council Member Sandra Huang, who all joined the effort to push for the resumption of compensation support for victims of the EBT card skimming fraud. Senator Liu highlighted the ongoing issue, stating, “One of the reasons skimming fraud victims continue to suffer is because EBT cards still use outdated magnetic strips.” He further explained that a bill (S1465) requiring the insertion of an IC chip with anti-hacking functions into the cards is currently being proposed in the state assembly, and he committed to working on passing the bill as soon as possible.
According to Council Member Sandra Huang’s office, around 1,990 compensation claims were filed by victims in the Flushing, Queens district between August and December of last year. Since compensation for food stamp skimming fraud ended on December 20th, 2024, only claims that occurred before that date can be filed. As a result, there is no compensation plan for damages incurred after December 21st, leaving some food stamp users who are concerned about fraud to experience inconveniences, such as using cash instead of cards to shop.
Since the federal government began tracking victims of food stamp skimming fraud in each state, approximately 118,000 victims have been reported in New York State, which is more than twice the number of victims compared to other states.