LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — ABC13 News is investigating a SNAP benefit scam that’s affected dozens in our community. Victims have reported that their food stamp money is disappearing out of their accounts, but the Department of Social Services said they can’t replace the funds.
It’s very frustrating when your kids are saying ‘I’m hungry’ and you know, it’s like, what do you do,” Latisha Rolsal, a SNAP benefits scam victim, said.
Rolsal said she works a job during the day, but with inflation and bills, it’s hard to keep food on the table without the SNAP benefits. She’s just one of multiple victims who told ABC13 News that their EBT cards had fraudulent charges, and their food stamps were stolen in seconds.
I used my card at Food Lion on Graves Mill Road. I purchased a small amount of items and I checked my card the next day. It was gone,” she said. “I was thinking, like, what happened? How did they just disappear? I just had them on there and I looked at the transactions and it said $86 for a candy store in the Bronx, New York, and I’ve never been there. So, I was like ‘Something’s not right.’”
As of December 2024, federal funding no longer replaces stolen SNAP benefits, DSS just issues new cards.
RELATED: ‘My children have nothing to eat:’ SNAP fraud leaves victims with empty EBT cards
ABC13’s Rachel Branning spent Tuesday pressing our federal lawmakers, to see what they’re doing about the seemingly widespread scam.
We didn’t receive statements from Republican Congressmen John McGuire or Ben Cline.
Republican Representative Morgan Griffith said his office hasn’t received any reports of stolen benefits, but he sent a statement over email:
If anyone believes they have been denied a federal benefit that they are rightly entitled to, be it Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, social security or veterans benefits, my office stands ready to assist in reaching out to the federal agencies to advocate for my constituents,” Griffith wrote.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine had media availability on Tuesday, but his team wouldn’t let ABC13 ask questions about SNAP benefits. Instead, they said he’ll be available to speak about EBT on Thursday.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner’s team responded to ABC13’s request by saying that he addressed the issue last month, when he said that with DOGE cuts, he doesn’t know how likely it is that the federal reimbursement program could be reinstated.
I’m not sure you’d find much sympathy there, even those these folks benefits have been stolen at no harm of their own, and we are raising it to see if we can get it reinstated,” he said. “Senator Kaine and I have also been working with Governor Youngkin and we are seeing if there could be some state relief… We are working in close conjunction with the governor to see if we might be able to find some interim state relief until we can get this federal program reinstated.”
Victims we’ve spoken with said something needs to be done and it needs to be done soon.
This has been an ongoing issue nationwide and a lot of people are affected by this,” Rolsal said. “What do we do? It’s not our fault. How are we gonna feed our children if we don’t get our benefits replaced? Yes, they have food banks and everything, but sometimes that isn’t, you know, enough to cover every meal.”
We also reached out to the Department of Social Services, both in Lynchburg and statewide. ABC13 hasn’t heard back from either.
ABC13’s Rachel Branning submitted a request through the Freedom of Information Act, asking how many reports the Virginia DSS has received for stolen benefits this year and how much money has been stolen overall. We’ll update as soon as we receive that information.
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