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Fact check: Who abuses snap benefits the most?
Executive Summary
The data show there is no single group that definitively “abuses SNAP benefits the most”; improper payments are a persistent program-wide problem and documented abuses span recipients, fraud rings, and insider collusion, with especially large losses reported in certain states such as New York [1] [2]. Recent reporting and enforcement actions through 2025 emphasize theft and skimming targeting recipients’ benefits, multimillion-dollar organized schemes, and isolated insider fraud, but official oversight reports focus on rates of improper payments rather than attributing most abuse to one actor [1] [3] [4].
1. Why a single culprit can’t be named — the government’s own numbers tell a complex story
Government audits frame the issue as systemic improper payments rather than concentrated criminality by one actor, noting that an estimated 11.7% of SNAP benefits were paid improperly in fiscal 2023. That metric captures a mix of administrative error, recipient mistakes, eligibility mistakes, and fraud, and does not disaggregate which proportion is intentional criminal abuse versus error. This framing means official accounting cannot be used to name “who abuses SNAP the most” because the umbrella term “improper payments” combines multiple causes and actors in a single rate [1]. The GAO-style approach emphasizes oversight gaps, not criminal profiling, and drives policy aimed at reducing overall improper payment rates.
2. State-level patterns reveal hotspots of theft and skimming, with New York prominent
Investigative reporting and state reimbursements point to concentrated theft and card-skimming schemes in certain states, particularly New York, where hundreds of thousands of theft claims and tens of millions of dollars in losses have been reported between 2023 and mid-2025. Newsweek’s mapping of reported thefts shows 151,000 claims and over $80 million lost in New York, with California and Maryland also flagged for significant losses [2]. Local authorities and lawmakers have linked these patterns to insecure card technology, retail fraud, and organized storefront schemes, suggesting place-based vulnerability rather than a single offender class.
3. Organized crime and multi-state fraud rings are a visible, costly component
Federal prosecutions expose multi-state conspiracies that siphoned millions from SNAP, demonstrating an organized-crime element to abuse. Recent criminal cases include a multimillion-dollar scheme prosecuted in 2025 involving a USDA employee and multiple co-conspirators, and a 29-year-old defendant in Oregon sentenced for a $2.4 million multi-state scheme, showing organized fraud’s reach and sophistication [3] [4]. These cases illustrate that while such rings are not the only source of abuse, they cause large-dollar losses and attract federal enforcement resources, underscoring why policymakers single out organized fraud for stricter penalties and detection investments.
4. Insider involvement magnifies loss and complicates prevention efforts
Cases involving agency employees or vendors reveal that insider collusion can drastically amplify theft and evade controls. A 2025 indictment naming a USDA employee and others in a multimillion-dollar fraud shows how access and authority inside the system magnify both the scale and stealth of abuse [3]. Insider schemes create different detection challenges than recipient errors or retail skimming because they can exploit procedural knowledge, override controls, and facilitate redistribution of benefits to criminal third parties. This reality motivates proposals for tighter employee oversight, transaction monitoring, and card-technology upgrades.
5. The human impact: stolen benefits hurt recipients and drive policy responses
Reporting from multiple states documents that stolen benefits leave low-income families unable to feed themselves, prompting reimbursements and legislative pressure for technological fixes. In New York, tens of thousands of low-income households sought reimbursements after thefts, with state payouts and calls to transition to chip-enabled cards cited as policy remedies [5] [2]. That human toll shapes political priorities: legislators emphasize preventing nonrecipients and criminals from exploiting the program, while advocacy groups warn against punitive reforms that might harm eligible households who make honest mistakes.
6. What the analyses agree on and what they omit — a balanced takeaway
All sources agree that SNAP abuse is multi-faceted: improper payment rates show systemic weakness; investigative reporting highlights state hotspots and widespread theft; prosecutions demonstrate organized and insider fraud. What’s omitted consistently is a clear quantitative breakdown that isolates intentional criminal abuse by actor type — recipient misuse, organized crime, retail fraud, or insider collusion — as a share of total improper payments [1] [2] [3] [4]. That omission limits any claim that one group “abuses SNAP the most” and points to the need for better public reporting that separates error from intentional fraud.
7. Bottom line for policymakers and the public: focus on targeted controls, not singular blame
The evidence supports targeted interventions—upgrading card technology, strengthening employee oversight, and prosecuting organized rings—because losses arise from multiple sources and methods [5] [3] [4]. Claims that a single actor group is the dominant abuser are not supported by the available aggregated improper-payment metric; instead, recent coverage and prosecutions show that hotspots, organized schemes, and insiders account for major, high-dollar losses while routine improper payments reflect a wider set of administrative and eligibility issues [1] [2]. Better data breakdowns are required to quantify responsibility precisely.