FNS Awards $475,071 to Illinois to Improve Fraud Prevention, Detection in SNAP

Contact: Midwest Region Public Affairs
FNMWRO.PA@usda.gov

CHICAGO, IL, September 26, 2024 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service today awarded Illinois a SNAP Fraud Framework Implementation Grant. This investment will help the state improve and expand recipient fraud prevention, detection and investigation efforts using the procedures, ideas and practices outlined in the SNAP Fraud Framework, a toolkit designed to help states prevent and detect fraud and sharpen their investigative techniques.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, has zero tolerance for fraud and USDA continues to work with its state partners to implement measures to improve program integrity. While most eligible recipients use their benefits as intended, there are some who violate program rules. SNAP participants have also been targets of benefit theft through EBT card skimming and card cloning.

“USDA and the Biden-Harris administration remain unwavering in their dedication to strengthening SNAP, protecting vulnerable households, and combating fraud,” said Cindy Long, Deputy Under Secretary for USDA Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. “These awards are critical to providing states the resources they need to deliver program benefits in a manner that best meets the needs of the people they serve while maximizing program integrity.”

The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) proposes to address client fraud, waste, and abuse by implementing a new fraud alerting system that will help detect specific components of client fraud and alert state staff on when there are fraud concerns on an application. Their specific activities include: 

• Fraud Detection: by building near real-time alerts in the IL IES system that will flag SNAP cases that have possible fraud associated to them.
• Analytics and Data Management: Automating this to place the alert on the application will allow for near real-time identification of potentially fraudulent activities and allow the caseworker conducting the interview to stop disbursements from being paid out erroneously to fraudulent applicants.
• Learning and Development: Provide change management oversight to help the case workers become comfortable with the new alerting system.

“These projects are designed to create a more robust and efficient system for preventing and addressing fraud within SNAP, ultimately ensuring that benefits reach those who truly need them.” said Dr. Vista Suarez Fletcher, Midwest Regional Administrator at the Food and Nutrition Service.

The Illinois Department of Human Services is one of 10 states awarded a SNAP Fraud Framework Implementation Grant this year. Additional grants are being awarded to:

• Florida Department of Children and Families
• Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services
• Maine Department of Health and Human Services
• Michigan Health and Human Health Services
• Minnesota Department of Human Services
• Mississippi Department of Human Services
• Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services
• Texas Health and Human Services Commission
• West Virginia Department of Human Services

Each state will use the grant funds to support new fraud prevention projects that fall under any of the seven components of the SNAP Fraud Framework: organizational management, performance measurement, recipient integrity education, fraud detection, investigations and dispositions, analytics and data management, and learning and development.

"Unfortunately, stamping out EBT fraud has become an integral part of our work, due to scammers. That said, we are rising to this challenge with effective strategies to catch and stop bad actors from taking advantage of our customers," said Dulce M. Quintero, IDHS Secretary Designate. "Perhaps the most important strategy here is prevention – and with these latest federal investments, we’re aiming to detect fraud before it occurs, with a special focus on identity theft."

Grantees will use funds in a variety of ways. For example, states may:

• Use media campaigns to educate recipients about the security of their EBT cards.
• Establish trainings for county offices to proactively prevent and recognize fraud during the application stages.
• Implement new features in EBT technology to protect against SNAP benefit theft through card skimming, card cloning and other similar methods.

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service works to end hunger and improve food and nutrition security through a suite of 16 nutrition assistance programs, such as the school breakfast and lunch programs, WIC and SNAP. Together, these programs serve 1 in 4 Americans over the course of a year, promoting consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe and affordable food essential to optimal health and well-being. FNS also provides science-based nutrition recommendations through the co-development of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. FNS’s report, “Leveraging the White House Conference to Promote and Elevate Nutrition Security: The Role of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service,” highlights ways the agency will support the Biden-Harris administration’s National Strategy, released in conjunction with the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September 2022. To learn more about FNS, visit www.fns.usda.gov and follow @USDANutrition.

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