Cyber criminals swipe SNAP benefits from Upstate families

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - FOX Carolina Investigates is digging deeper to get answers about a scam that’s taking money from families who need help keeping their fridge full.

Cyber criminals are stealing money from the EBT cards SNAP recipients use to buy food. Investigators say it’s part of an organized crime ring that is located outside of the country and now, once that money is gone, families won’t be getting it back.

An Upstate woman named Patricia Bridwell reached out to FOX Carolina Investigates so we dug deeper into why she won’t see her funds reimbursed.

Bridwell said she tried to buy her groceries just like she always has until one day she couldn’t. She called the South Carolina Department of Social Services, DSS, which issues SNAP benefits for the state, and found out her account had been drained just hours after he food benefit money had been deposited.

“It just kept kicking it back out so I called to check the balance,” Bridwell claimed. “There was a zero balance.”

There was fraud on her account, her food stamps had been used in Philadelphia and she was told they were not going to reimburse her.

Just days later, Bridwell’s family was hit again.

“It happened to my daughter,” the woman said. “She’s a single mother and works a part-time job just to pay her bills so she depends on that to help feed my granddaughter.”

Now, Bridwell’s family is trying to figure out how they will feed their families until next month’s benefits kick in.

“I’ll have to go to foodbanks just do what I have to do to make it through.”

After receiving hundreds of responses from people saying their benefits has also been stolen, community activist Traci Fant is now working to help people who have been hit like Bridwell.

“If you have children going to bed hungry at night, mothers and fathers trying to figure out how to feed their household, where they’re going to get their next meal from and you have someone, some entity that’s stealing the funds, it has to stop somewhere,” Fant said.

Over the last two years, more than $1 million in stolen food assistance benefits have been reimburse to South Carolinians but now, that has come to a halt. Federal funding expired in December and as a result, DSS is no longer allowed to issues reimbursements for stolen SNAP benefits.

“I talked to [DSS] on the phone and they told me there was nothing they could do.”

Another problem is awareness. FOX Carolina Investigates asked DSS how the agency is notifying people about this scam. We found out that emails and letters had not gone out to SNAP recipients but alerts had been posted on the DSS website and social media.

When asked if they are taking any additional steps to help families from becoming victims, DSS didn’t give a clear answer leaving people like Bridwell hoping she doesn’t become a victim once more.

If you experience electronic theft of your SNAP EBT benefits, call 1-800-554-5258 to order a replacement card.

For more information and tips from DSS, click here.

MORE NEWS: USDA: More than 3,000 chickens died en route to Greenville during sub-freezing temperatures

Copyright 2025 WHNS. All rights reserved.