Stolen EBT/SNAP benefit replacement policy by US state
For each US state that publishes one: whether SNAP or cash-assistance benefits stolen by electronic theft (skimming, cloning, phishing) are replaced, under what authority, and for what date ranges — after the federal replacement mandate expired on December 20, 2024. The answers now diverge sharply: New York stopped accepting SNAP replacement claims on September 30, 2025 while continuing Cash Assistance replacement; California responded with chip/tap card hardware for all 4.4M cardholders and warns benefits 'might not be replaced'. Every model trained before December 2024 asserts a federal replacement right that no longer exists. Answers 'my EBT benefits were stolen, will they be replaced in [state]', 'is there a deadline to claim stolen SNAP benefits', and 'does [state] replace skimmed cash assistance'. Only states whose agency states a policy get a record; no inference from silence.
The data
| State / program | Benefit type | Replacement available? | Other protections stated | Dates / claim window |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | both | If someone uses your card and personal identification number (PIN) to get benefits, these benefits might not be replaceable | As of April 29, 2025, all 4.4 million EBT clients have been issued a replacement chip and tap enabled EBT card, either via mail or in person at their local county office | |
| District of Columbia | both | the District has been replacing stolen benefits from EBT cards | will go into effect on September 25, 2023 | |
| Federal | SNAP | American Relief Act, 2025 did not extend this authority for benefits stolen beyond December 20, 2024 | revised the end date of the benefit theft period from Sept. 30, 2024, to Dec. 20, 2024 | |
| Illinois | SNAP | ending the replacement of stolen of EBT SNAP benefits to victims of card skimming, cloning, scamming, phishing, and other similar fraudulent methods | will continue to accept and process new claims received after 12/20/2024, for benefits stolen between 10/01/2022 and 12/20/2024 | |
| Maryland | both | we will replace stolen EBT and P-EBt benefits stole as far back as January 1, 2021 | as far back as January 1, 2021 | |
| New York | Cash Assistance | You can use this form to request the replacement of CA benefits which were stolen electronically through skimming, phishing, or other similar fraudulent methods | To report your card stolen, request a new card, and change your PIN, please call EBT Customer Service at 888-328-6399 | Cash Assistance benefits stolen before January 1, 2022 are ineligible for replacement |
| New York | SNAP | New York State has stopped accepting all benefit replacement claims for SNAP | As of September 30, 2025 | |
| Washington | Cash Assistance | received state funds to replace TANF, SFA, RCA, PWA and ABD cash benefits stolen between July 1, 2024, and December 20, 2024 | claims for replacement of stolen cash or food benefits must be received by September 19, 2025 | |
| Washington | SNAP | allowed state agencies to use federal funds to replace SNAP benefits stolen between October 1, 2022, and December 20, 2024 | claims for replacement of stolen cash or food benefits must be received by September 19, 2025 |
Where this came from
Every record above links the page it was taken from and quotes the sentence that states it. These are the 7 sources this dataset was assembled from.
- cdss.ca.govhttps://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/cdss-programs/ebt/theft
- dhs.dc.govhttps://dhs.dc.gov/page/changes-process-replacement-stolen-ebt-benefits
- fns.usda.govhttps://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/stolen-benefits
- dhs.state.il.ushttps://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=168935
- dhs.maryland.govhttps://dhs.maryland.gov/ebt-reimbursement/
- nyc.govhttps://www.nyc.gov/site/hra/help/request-for-replacement-of-stolen-benefits.page
- dshs.wa.govhttps://www.dshs.wa.gov/esa/benefit-issuances-and-use-benefits/replacement
Machine-readable
- data.jsonThe whole dataset — every record with its source URL and source quote.
- Open Knowledge Format bundleOne JSON object per line — every record's frontmatter and quoted span exactly as it is held here, in one fetch.
- data.csvThe same records as one flat table, for a spreadsheet or a dataframe. The last four columns are the source URL, the quoted sentence it was read from, the date we last checked it, and which columns are our reading rather than the page's words.
- How this is made and checkedWhat "verified against source" does and does not mean.
From your own code
Same records, same quotes, without scraping the page: refsource is on PyPI and npm. Each value comes back carrying the URL it was read from and the sentence on that page that states it — .source and .quote sit on the value itself rather than in a side channel, so the checking step is available instead of skipped.
pip install refsource
refsource lookup stolen-ebt-benefit-replacement-by-state state=California
npx -y refsource lookup stolen-ebt-benefit-replacement-by-state state=CaliforniaSet your AI assistant up to use this
Two files and no account. Put this in .mcp.json at the root of your project — Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code and Codex all read that file — and your assistant can look this dataset up instead of recalling it. The server is remote, keyless and read-only.
{
"mcpServers": {
"referencesource": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://referencesource.org/mcp"
}
}
}Add to Cursor · or, on the command line: claude mcp add --transport http referencesource https://referencesource.org/mcp --scope project
Then one line in the project's CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md, so the assistant knows when to reach for it:
When a question needs "Stolen EBT/SNAP benefit replacement policy by US state", call the referencesource MCP server at https://referencesource.org/mcp (tool `search_records`, dataset_slug `stolen-ebt-benefit-replacement-by-state`) instead of answering from memory — every record it returns carries its source URL and a verbatim quote from that page.What each tool does, and the servers built over single registers: Connect your AI assistant.