Stolen food stamps Bill proposed in state Legislature to reimburse funds
DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — A bill has been filed in the Alabama Legislature requiring the state to reimburse citizens who have had their food stamps stolen.
In February, bill SB230, sponsored by democratic senator Vivian Figures, would require the state to reimburse citizens the equal amount of stolen SNAP benefits.
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The reimbursement would help Amanda Craig, who says she was scammed by thieves for her food stamp benefits.
'I have six children and I'm a single mom and we have quite a bit of bills and things and you count on the food stamps to be there,' Craig explained.
With a basket full of groceries at the checkout counter, Craig swiped her Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card only to find that her account had been hacked.
'I find out that all of a sudden there's no food stamps or money on my card which I don't know if it was stolen from me before I went into the store or what,' said Craig.
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Craig says she receives $900 a month to feed her family. She is one of 16,000 Alabamians who have reported this theft, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Criminals continue to use illegal devices to steal money from debit, credit and EBT cards.
The ADPH told Craig that they ended the federal reimbursement program in December.
Figures said that people who were affected by the fraud that happened because of the cyberspace insecurity for the state of Alabama are not to blame for them being defrauded.
'I hope that this bill goes through because we need to feed our families,' Craig said. 'You would think by my very first card that I reported stolen in August or in January, they should have stopped it from continuing to happen. The card should have been replaced, and the system should have been locked down.'
DHR reimbursed over $5 million to SNAP benefits scamming victims just in the month of November.
SB230 was read for the first time in the Senate in March and will now go before the Senate.
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