more than 6,000 people in New Jersey have fallen victim to state and federal benefit scams over the last two years according to State lawmakers that leaves them without critical support that they need to access food and other benefits so in response state federal and local leaders are working together to introduce legislation to combat fraud and protect families Raven Santana spoke to victims and lawmakers about their efforts to stop these scammers we I checked my card and the balance was 0 now I get $1,139 in food stamps so I came down here Social Service went the window to and she told me my benefits were stolen Tiffany Edwards described the moment she went to use her monthly SNAP benefits and really realized her money was gone I got a jar so we have to just save up quarters nickel dimes whatever it makes a difference we all put in me and my older girls we all put in now normally when I go to the store I'll say with my children I say I about I spent about maybe five 500 or something so now everything is cut short maybe 3040 whatever I have the mom of seven from Roselle says sadly this has happened not once but three times the crime is commonly done when criminals use a skimming device to lift the card data they are then able to create fake payment cards and steal the money from the snap accounts two months later it happened again this time everything again 1,139 in food stamps this third time I cried to myself so now window two she's aware of me so when she seen me she was like not again I say yes the third time it happened I wasn't allowed no they couldn't reimburse me so I said is there someone I can speak to or was no one I could really speak to Edwards is not alone here in Jersey there have been over 6,000 victims from October 2022 through February 2024 who have had their benefits stolen Union County alone there were over 2600 incidents of fraud which cost the county and their recip over $1.1 million and Union County is not alone in this Edward shared her experience during a press conference at the Union County Social Services Department where Senate President Nick scutari and Senator Brian stack joined Congressman Josh Gottheimer to discuss state and federal legislation to stop scammers and I've had a number of individuals come in uh if you saw that number 240 in one week in Hudson County committing that their benefits were also stolen so we see it firsthand since since 2021 frers across the country have targeted these EBT cards that families rely on because they don't have a chip inside if you ever look on your card you see that little chip that helps with security but the EBT cards have no chip on them so it's much easier to actually scam right and when you swipe those scam the skimmers can grab the number right from it without those chips on it goheer says he's taking the fight to stop scammers to the federal level introducing new legislation in Congress called the stop scams ACT first it requires state agencies to inform SNAP, WIC and TANF recipients of the risk of card skimming and their opportunities for recourse for benefits at their stolen second it requires the US Secretary of Agriculture who manages all these nutrition programs across our country to issue cyber security and digital regulations to states to help solve EBTs technological vulnerabilities within five years we want every single state including Jersey to transition to more secure EBT cards with chips in them in the mean time while there is no recourse for victims who have had their data stolen multiple times like Tiffany officials recommend contacting your local County Board of Social Services as they can report it and assist you with other resources for NJ Spotlight news I'm Raven Santana [Music]