The Mississippi Department of Human Services is urging SNAP beneficiaries to protect the personal identification numbers, or PINs, linked to their accounts.
Officials with the state agency’s Office of Inspector General are reporting an uptick in stolen benefits over the past few weeks across the state. SNAP recipients are especially encouraged to take precautions because the federal government has notified state officials that benefits will no longer be replaced, even if they’re stolen.
The best way to prevent benefits from being stolen, per the Department of Human Services, is for a beneficiary to change his or her PIN after each use. The following video tutorial walks SNAP recipients through the PIN changing process:
Additional tips to safeguard an electronics benefit transfer card from being the subject of theft include:
- Change your PIN the night before your benefits are loaded each month.
- Avoid using PINs that are easy to guess, such as 1234 or sequences of the same digit like 0000 or 1111. While these may be convenient for you to remember, they also make it simple for thieves to access your account and steal your funds.
- Keep your PIN secret. Do not share your PIN with anyone outside your household. Cover the keypad when you enter your PIN on a machine.
- Check your EBT account regularly for unauthorized charges. If your EBT card has been compromised, call the Mississippi EBT cardholder service center at 1-866-512-5087 as soon as possible to report the card as compromised. This will deactivate the card and send a new card to the account holder.
- Check card reading machines to make sure there’s nothing suspicious overlayed or attached to the card swiper or keypad.
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The state is working to enhance security solutions to protect SNAP users. Local and state law enforcement officials have also been notified to be on alert for criminals preying upon Mississippi’s neediest residents. Beneficiaries can report stolen benefits to the Office of Inspector General’s fraud hotline at 1-800-299-6905.
