SALT LAKE CITY — A single mother in Salt Lake City has spent weeks fighting through red tape after her Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were stolen.
“I went to the grocery store bought a couple items,” Joella Aviles explained about the day she noticed the missing money. “I went back to the grocery store the same day, and my food stamps were gone.”
Aviles works at a local school, but uses the program to help during the summer months as she raises her children, including a son who is disabled.
“He's blind, he has sensory needs, and he's on a nutrient dense diet,” she said to describe her son. “So I have to get him the almonds, pecans, the expensive food from the grocery store.”
When Aviles notice the problem with her SNAP benefits, she spoke with the company in charge of her card.
“They checked my account, noticed that they were pulled from New York,
Joella said. “So I was curious about the month before it because things weren't adding up. They looked and there was funds taken from Chicago, Illinois.”
In all, more than $700 dollars was taken.
After filing a police report, the Division of Workforce Services told Aviles they would begin an investigation and to cancel her card immediately.
“It takes them over 30 days to investigate. I'm like, what am I supposed to do?” Joella asked.
FOX 13 News spoke with the agency to find out how common stories like Aviles' are in Utah.
“This is not a rarity anymore," said Muris Prses, director of Eligibility Services. “I believe we have seen a lot more instances of this happening. There are folks who have reported various issues of attempts of skimming cloning and phishing to obtain information about EBT accounts for the purpose of taking benefits away from those that are eligible.”
Prses shared tips on who people can protect their SNAP benefits.
“Do not let others use your card," she implored. "Do not share information about your account with anybody else. Be skeptical about using machines that utilize that take EBT cards.”
For Aviles, the warnings come too late, but she has since been reimbursed for the entire amount that was taken from her and was issued a new card.
“I'm scared to even use my food card when I do get it now because if it
happens to me again, it's gonna set me back,” she admitted. “That's what makes me emotional, I’m over here doing the right thing trying to take care of my children and people are robbing me blind.
"It just, it hurts.”
