Pennsylvania will soon roll out chip cards for SNAP benefits to prevent theft

Chip-enabled debit cards will soon be in the hands of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients in Pennsylvania. Officials say the technology will prevent SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, from being stolen.

In Philadelphia, roughly one in three people receive SNAP benefits, and advocates have recently called the widespread theft a crisis.

Shawntay Broggins said she's received SNAP benefits for more than a decade to buy food for herself, her daughter and her father. In recent years, her benefits were stolen and her account showed the money had been used at stores in New York.

"I don't even know how they did it. I'm like, I got to feed my daughter," Broggins said.

She and thousands across the state have reported stolen benefits in recent years just as the federal government stopped replacing stolen SNAP benefits in 2024.

On Thursday, standing outside a grocery store in Philadelphia, state officials announced chip technology will soon make SNAP debit cards, known as EBT cards, more secure.

"This means that our access cards will now have a chip in them, just like your debit card or your credit card and put up another barrier of protection," Democratic state Rep. Jordan Harris said.

State investigators say thieves have been using sophisticated skimming devices all across Philadelphia to steal EBT card information once it's been swiped.

Last week, one of the state's skimmer response teams conducted a sweep of two dozen stores in Philadelphia and removed skimming devices containing user information for more than 3,000 EBT accounts, according to a state spokesperson.

"What they do is come into a store and in less than four seconds, they can put a skimmer on a point-of-sale device," Michelle Henry, the Pennsylvania state inspector general, said at the news conference.

The skimming devices won't work with chip cards.

The state budget includes $7 million for the transition, and another $7 million will come from federal funding. State officials say they will start to roll out the new cards in spring 2027.

"I'm glad they came up with something to try and fix this problem," Broggins said.

State officials urge people to use the ConnectEBT app to lock their EBT cards when they're not in use.

New Jersey became one of the first states to make the transition last week when it started sending out chip cards to all SNAP recipients.