‘I was crying, I was pissed off’: SNAP benefits being stolen across Virginia as lawmakers propose security enhancements

LOUISA COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- For one Louisa County mother of four, SNAP benefits are how she feeds her four kids.

“I’m not working at the time, that’s why I’m receiving benefits,” the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told 8News.

So when she found out last week that scammers had spent nearly all of the $1,049 she received to feed her family in April, she was heartbroken.

“Went to Food Lion, and went and did my regular shopping, and that’s when I got to the register, and I got embarrassed that I had 22 cents left,” explained the woman.

The woman said that while she did spend $129.80 on food at Dollar General on April 4, the day she received her benefits, someone else spent over $900 on Amazon, including one purchase from Seattle.

The woman's SNAP transaction log for April shows two purchases from Amazon that she says she didn't make.

"I was crying, I was pissed off. I have growing kids that go to school, that have field trips, that have spring break coming, and I don't know how to explain to them that I was one of the victims that got got,” the woman said from her front yard on Thursday.

Now, with no money to buy food, the woman says she’s been forced to go to the local food bank, something she says she can only do once a month.

“We just going to take it one day at a time,” she said.

The woman added that she's speaking out to warn others and advocate for the state to take more steps to protect people’s benefits, like language included in the budget currently sitting on Governor Glenn Youngkin’s desk to add chips to all EBT cards to combat fraud.

“Put in some type of security for people like me, cause, like I said, I really depend on SNAP benefits," the woman said.

Governor Glenn Youngkin has until early May to take action on the budget.