Group of Pittsburgh women say their stolen SNAP benefits were used at same Chicago address

PITTSBURGH — Several people reached out to Channel 11, saying their monthly SNAP benefits disappeared. Some are now out hundreds of dollars. Each person said their missing benefits were traced to the same address in Chicago.

“We are absolutely not getting our money back,” Barbara Kristi said.

She said that within a few hours, she went from having $118 in her EBT account to $2.97.

“When our food stamps are taken away, what we have to do is buy the food with cash that we don’t have,” Kristi said.

And she’s not alone. She said she knows of at least five others in her North Oakland apartment building who claim to have had their benefits stolen, including Alison Wardrop.

“I don’t know how they did it,” Wardrop said.

Jazmyne does not know the women in North Oakland, but had the same scam happen to her.

“I have six kids so it’s like… what am I supposed to do?” Jazmyne asked.

She lives near Polish Hill and said she recently lost $1,500 in SNAP benefits.

“This happened to so many people I know so far and what are we supposed to do to feed our families and take of our kids and stuff?” Jazmyne said.

None of these women knows where their information may have been exposed. All of their accounts show their benefits going to the same address in Chicago.

“Electronically, these things could be from anywhere and just say they are from Chicago,” Kristi said.

The state is taking steps to try and fight EBT fraud.

Last month officials announced a new security feature allowing EBT cardholders to lock their accounts on the ‘connect EBT’ app. Unfortunately for Wardrop, who lost $300, she said it won’t help her much because she doesn’t have a smartphone.

“I just feel violated, ya know. And it’s always the people that need it. People need food stamps,” Wardrop said.

A bill introduced by Senator John Fetterman would allow state SNAP agencies to reimburse EBT fraud victims. That bill is sitting in committee. We also reached out to Pittsburgh Police about the alleged fraud, but have not heard back.

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