More local food assistance recipients report stolen benefits
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (May 8, 2023) – Tuscarawas County’s Job and Family Service Director is again urging food assistance recipients to keep an eye on their card balances.
The advice from David Haverfield follows recent reports of benefits being skimmed from a handful of folks in the southern part of the county.
“Our clients can look anytime they want online and see what their balance is, and if something’s happening that shouldn’t be, certainly, let us know that.”
Other local food stamp recipients had something similar happen to them back in December amid a nationwide wave of SNAP benefit thefts. Congress has since authorized funding to replace any benefits stolen through card skimming or cloning between October 1st of last year and September 30th, 2024.
“Those were approved so those folks will be able to get replacement benefits when we’re able to show that were stolen, and we need to do some work on our end. I think the ones that most recently happened were reported to law enforcement, which is a big help for us.”
The latest victims included an Oxford Township resident and five people from a Uhrichsville group home. Investigators believe whoever was behind the earlier thefts tampered with or hacked into certain Point-of-Sale systems.