Dixon Walmart SNAP fraud victims must apply to get benefits restored

DIXON – Only a handful of the 2,815 people whose SNAP benefits were suspended after an illegal skimming device at the Dixon Walmart stole their Link card data have applied to have their benefits restored, the Illinois Department of Human Services said.

The department cannot restore those benefits unless cardholders contact the DHS to report the unauthorized transactions, which took place from May 10 to June 8 on two registers at the store, agency spokeswoman Marisa Kollias said in a June 27 email.

The DHS will begin to restore those benefits this month, in its Stolen Benefit Replacement Program.

It will take 10 calendar days or fewer to replace the lost benefit, once a signed claim is received, she said.

The replacement form is available on the IDHS website, www.dhs.state.il.us, or by calling 800-843-6154.

The nearest DHS Family Community Resource Center is at 1001 Pines Road in Oregon. It can be reached at 815-732-2166.

An initial review found that 1,774 SNAP customers were affected; officials discovered 1,041 more on June 8, for a total of 2,815, Kollias said.

The DHS tried to notify the affected Link cardholders by text message. As of June 12, 1,977 text messages were sent, 1,685 were delivered, and 203 were undelivered, while the status of 89 of those messages was not known. In addition, there were 47 successful voice calls, Kollias said.

Letters are not being sent to the affected cardholders, she said.

The total monetary amount of the thefts can’t be determined until the claims are filed, she said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the FBI are investigating the thefts, which occurred after “a tightly fitted skimmer was installed over the top of the original card reading device” at the Dixon Walmart.

It was the second such incident to occur in Illinois; the first took place in April, but Kollias declined to provide any details, citing the ongoing investigation.

According to the USDA website, in late December, Congress passed a law to protect and replace SNAP benefits stolen via card skimming, card cloning and other similar methods.

States now must replace such benefits that were stolen between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2024. The replacement benefits can’t exceed the actual amount stolen or the household’s benefit allotment amount for the two months immediately preceding the theft, whichever is lesser.

Illinois’ replacement program took effect July 1.