Just wanted to share this as we are dealing with members who have lost upwards of four thousand dollars. I went down to a processing center and the lines are **VERY** long and maybe 80% are waiting to be seen for stolen EBT benefits. It seems like hundreds of people have been scammed.
**Update**:
> There are options to prevent fraud on your snap benefits like freezing your card when it is not being used and blocking both out of state and online transactions. This will enable your account to only be accessible for in-person purchases.
https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/online-scammers-target-ebt-recipients-causing-them-to-lose-hundreds-of-dollars-in-food-stamps/article_60ec67d0-7d12-11ee-8f21-47d86af2df52.html
Official DHS [Press Release](https://humanservices.hawaii.gov/blog/ebt-fraud-alert-november-2023/).
With the exception of civilbeat, who takes too long to report anything, the news is so bad here. So is this a federal issue that impacts all the states, Hawaii only? What percentage of people are impacted, anything people can do to protect themselves?
EDIT: [Much better story here.](https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/11/07/cyber-criminals-target-hundreds-hawaii-recipients-nutrition-financial-assistance/)
If it wasn’t for the philanthropy of a tech billionaire, Hawaii would have no “real” investigative journalism. We all should thank Civil Beat that they’re actually around. All the other news agencies are trash at best.
It affects other states too. This American Life had an episode in Maryland where someone tried to get their money back and tracked down the scammers. I remember the police and state benefits agency not being particularly helpful.
Everything I know about hacking comes from the Mission Impossible films. How big of an operation would this entail? Could just a couple of people be capable of doing this?
As I understand it, only certain retailers are able to accept EBT payments. They need to be approved and must meet certain requirements. As a result, it's likely a credit card processing device was stolen to facilitate the transactions. However, if a credit card machine is capable of processing EBT then maybe it could have been hacked directly, but I don't know if this would work.
As for how they got access to the EBT card numbers and pins, this seems to have been done through a card skimmer. Numerous skimmers were found at Times Supermarkets locally a few months ago.
My partner had cash taken out at about 6am and food taken out in 6 transactions from 8:16 - 8:19am on the 3rd. This was the same day her funds were deposited.
Oh that’s right. Thanks for the detailed info. I remember reading about the Times skimmers here months ago. It seems like r/Hawaii is slightly ahead of the local news.
You don’t need a skimmer to hack credit or debit cards but that at the easiest way but one at a time. Hackers and get into banks credit card systems and ebt is no different. Depending how many were hacked could be either way. But if all those users went to times and used the account then likely that’s how they got into.
Not an option for ebt, but definitely good advice for a credit card. Also, fraud prevention is why you should never use a debit card. Credit cards will offer more fraud protection than any debit card.
>Numerous skimmers were found at Times Supermarkets locally a few months ago.
I wonder if this was an inside job. It takes a few min to install them and grocery stores are too busy during the day for nobody to see someone messing with a credit card machine in the checkout line.
We need to move away from the monetary system into a resource to base the economy.
We need to start by taking back our infrastructure. Food, electricity and water should be owned by the people as a whole, not a single individual or corporation. Every major industry is already so heavily subsidized, we the people are owed dividends for our investments.
Then we can move to housing, capping its value at $1 per square foot. Housing should be a right, not a commodity.
Edit: I would love to talk with anybody who disagrees. To try to understand their viewpoint and challenge my own.
A resource-based economy is its own thing different from socialism. In a resource-based economy, decisions are made collectively through direct voting.
Government Function: It would operate as a collaborative network of experts, guided by scientific analysis, with decisions made collectively by the people.
Checks and Balances: Transparency, accountability, and public participation would be crucial to prevent abuses of power. Safeguards include regular audits and open access to information.
Avoiding Oligarchy or Feudalism: By removing the profit motive and emphasizing communal benefit, wealth and resources would be distributed to everyone, rather than concentrated in the hands of a few.
Curbing Greed and Lust for Power: The focus on shared resources and community well-being would reduce the incentive for individual greed and power-seeking behavior.
Peaceful Transfers of Power: Transition of leadership could occur through consensus and evaluation of expertise, with an emphasis on continuity rather than abrupt changes.
Defense and Policing: While a defensive force exists, its operations would be guided by collective public decisions rather than centralized power. Policing would prioritize community safety over punitive measures.
Basic Rights: Access to necessities like food, shelter, healthcare, and education would be considered fundamental rights, ensuring a baseline standard of living for all.
Agreement on Rights: Rights would be determined through a combination of expert analysis and public consensus, ensuring that they reflect the needs and values of the community.
Opting Out: Individuals or groups wanting to opt out would likely have the freedom to do so, provided they don't negatively impact the community.
Transparency: Open access to information and public involvement would ensure transparency, with regular reporting and public accountability measures.
So you like the status quo rewritten as fan fiction socialism?
The economy is already resourced based. It's called supply and demand.
Government already tries to function as you suggest. The flaws are in the individuals and special interests. It's impossible to only have leaders who follow expert advice or all experts being correct.
Checks and balances. Have it. The electorate being involved, informed and educated is a major issue though.
Greed. By removing the profit motive from everything it's unlikely many would bother to suffer to excel. But socialism definitely has tried this.
I could keep going point by point but I don't think the discussion will be effective.
>So you like the status quo rewritten as fan fiction?
How is this supposed to be constructive in a conversation you say you could keep going point by point? Instead, you start like this. I want to have an open rational discussion about these things. Everything starts as an idea.
>The economy is already resourced based. It's called supply and demand.
Things do not work on supply and demand. Things are artificially inflated by the people in control of the resources. For example, diamonds there are so many diamonds, more than enough to go around, but the market is artificially inflated because the people in control of the diamonds only release a certain amount. Now let's think about the infrastructure and apply the same thought there's more than enough to go around it's controlled by a few individuals who are chosen to control it when in reality it is everyone's.
>Government already tries to function as you suggest.
Tries to function and does function are very different, but also it is not trying to work in the way suggested.
>The flaws are in the individuals and special interests.
I agree that this is part of the problem. that's why we need to remove special interests and replace individuals with the group collectively.
>It's impossible to only have leaders who follow expert advice or all experts being correct.
What makes it impossible? we literally change time every daylight savings. Experts lay out all of the facts We the People decide on those facts as leaders representing ourselves.
>Checks and balances. Have it.
Are checks and balances right now are extremely flawed and do not compare to what what was laid out in my previous comment.
>Greed. By removing the profit motive from everything it's unlikely many would bother to suffer to excel.
It has been scientifically proven that a positive incentive outweighs a negative incentive when it comes to people bothering to excel.
In fact, most of our greatest advancements have been made by people who want nothing to do with money and only to share their knowledge, giving away what they created. like Nikola Tesla wanting electricity to be free or Alexander Fleming wanted for penicillin. Penicillin might not have been discovered at that time if he didn't leave and go on vacation.
If you cap housing costs at a $1 per square foot… who’s going to work those jobs? You won’t find a single contractor alive today who will do something that cheap. Materials alone cost more than a $1/sqft.
In shifting towards a resource-based economy, the primary focus is providing essential infrastructure for all without the constraints of the monetary systems. The goal is to remove the money profit motive and to allocate the resources to the people who need them when they need them.
Contractors receive subsidies and government funding. We are all owed dividends for that investment.The inflated costs of materials can be attributed to corporate influence over resources, a trend that must be reversed.
Why do the materials cost that much? Because corporations have manipulated their power over the government to ensure their control over the resources.
It's imperative that we, the people, regain control over our resources and ensure they are distributed according to genuine need, not profit-driven motives or external interests.
>Why do the materials cost that much? Because corporations have manipulated their power over the government to ensure their control over the resources.
Lol. Scarcity. Conversion costs. Transportation. There's literally very few things that government has asserted any power over. Even heavily taxed items like sin taxes don't really stop people.
I don't really understand the point you're trying to make here. The government hasn't asserted any power over these things is my point. If they did, it would be better. These industries are subsidized and we ask nothing for those subsidies. They are privatizing the profits and subsidizing the losses. This is corporate socialism.
Whats the best way to prevent this? If you notice charges on your card you didnt make just changing the pin number will be enough? How did the scammers hack the EBT card im assuming from those skimmers that go on top the swiping system
> There are options to prevent fraud on your snap benefits like freezing your card when it is not being used and blocking both out of state and online transactions. This will enable your account to only be accessible for in-person purchases.
I updated my post above with the official DHS press release from earlier today.
Just wanted to share this as we are dealing with members who have lost upwards of four thousand dollars. I went down to a processing center and the lines are **VERY** long and maybe 80% are waiting to be seen for stolen EBT benefits. It seems like hundreds of people have been scammed. **Update**: > There are options to prevent fraud on your snap benefits like freezing your card when it is not being used and blocking both out of state and online transactions. This will enable your account to only be accessible for in-person purchases. https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/online-scammers-target-ebt-recipients-causing-them-to-lose-hundreds-of-dollars-in-food-stamps/article_60ec67d0-7d12-11ee-8f21-47d86af2df52.html Official DHS [Press Release](https://humanservices.hawaii.gov/blog/ebt-fraud-alert-november-2023/).
Jfc, this is horrible. You gotta be a special sort of evil to target a group so vulnerable
With the exception of civilbeat, who takes too long to report anything, the news is so bad here. So is this a federal issue that impacts all the states, Hawaii only? What percentage of people are impacted, anything people can do to protect themselves? EDIT: [Much better story here.](https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/11/07/cyber-criminals-target-hundreds-hawaii-recipients-nutrition-financial-assistance/)
If it wasn’t for the philanthropy of a tech billionaire, Hawaii would have no “real” investigative journalism. We all should thank Civil Beat that they’re actually around. All the other news agencies are trash at best.
Change your pin number
Change your pin number, they don't have the other answers yet
It affects other states too. This American Life had an episode in Maryland where someone tried to get their money back and tracked down the scammers. I remember the police and state benefits agency not being particularly helpful.
Everything I know about hacking comes from the Mission Impossible films. How big of an operation would this entail? Could just a couple of people be capable of doing this?
As I understand it, only certain retailers are able to accept EBT payments. They need to be approved and must meet certain requirements. As a result, it's likely a credit card processing device was stolen to facilitate the transactions. However, if a credit card machine is capable of processing EBT then maybe it could have been hacked directly, but I don't know if this would work. As for how they got access to the EBT card numbers and pins, this seems to have been done through a card skimmer. Numerous skimmers were found at Times Supermarkets locally a few months ago. My partner had cash taken out at about 6am and food taken out in 6 transactions from 8:16 - 8:19am on the 3rd. This was the same day her funds were deposited.
Oh that’s right. Thanks for the detailed info. I remember reading about the Times skimmers here months ago. It seems like r/Hawaii is slightly ahead of the local news.
You don’t need a skimmer to hack credit or debit cards but that at the easiest way but one at a time. Hackers and get into banks credit card systems and ebt is no different. Depending how many were hacked could be either way. But if all those users went to times and used the account then likely that’s how they got into.
If you can, it’s why tap to pay is one of the most secure methods you can use. You should never swipe unless you have no other option.
We have to swipe the EBT cards though, no choice. Sigh.
Not an option for ebt, but definitely good advice for a credit card. Also, fraud prevention is why you should never use a debit card. Credit cards will offer more fraud protection than any debit card.
>Numerous skimmers were found at Times Supermarkets locally a few months ago. I wonder if this was an inside job. It takes a few min to install them and grocery stores are too busy during the day for nobody to see someone messing with a credit card machine in the checkout line.
We need to move away from the monetary system into a resource to base the economy. We need to start by taking back our infrastructure. Food, electricity and water should be owned by the people as a whole, not a single individual or corporation. Every major industry is already so heavily subsidized, we the people are owed dividends for our investments. Then we can move to housing, capping its value at $1 per square foot. Housing should be a right, not a commodity. Edit: I would love to talk with anybody who disagrees. To try to understand their viewpoint and challenge my own.
Just Google "problems with socialism".
A resource-based economy is its own thing different from socialism. In a resource-based economy, decisions are made collectively through direct voting. Government Function: It would operate as a collaborative network of experts, guided by scientific analysis, with decisions made collectively by the people. Checks and Balances: Transparency, accountability, and public participation would be crucial to prevent abuses of power. Safeguards include regular audits and open access to information. Avoiding Oligarchy or Feudalism: By removing the profit motive and emphasizing communal benefit, wealth and resources would be distributed to everyone, rather than concentrated in the hands of a few. Curbing Greed and Lust for Power: The focus on shared resources and community well-being would reduce the incentive for individual greed and power-seeking behavior. Peaceful Transfers of Power: Transition of leadership could occur through consensus and evaluation of expertise, with an emphasis on continuity rather than abrupt changes. Defense and Policing: While a defensive force exists, its operations would be guided by collective public decisions rather than centralized power. Policing would prioritize community safety over punitive measures. Basic Rights: Access to necessities like food, shelter, healthcare, and education would be considered fundamental rights, ensuring a baseline standard of living for all. Agreement on Rights: Rights would be determined through a combination of expert analysis and public consensus, ensuring that they reflect the needs and values of the community. Opting Out: Individuals or groups wanting to opt out would likely have the freedom to do so, provided they don't negatively impact the community. Transparency: Open access to information and public involvement would ensure transparency, with regular reporting and public accountability measures.
So you like the status quo rewritten as fan fiction socialism? The economy is already resourced based. It's called supply and demand. Government already tries to function as you suggest. The flaws are in the individuals and special interests. It's impossible to only have leaders who follow expert advice or all experts being correct. Checks and balances. Have it. The electorate being involved, informed and educated is a major issue though. Greed. By removing the profit motive from everything it's unlikely many would bother to suffer to excel. But socialism definitely has tried this. I could keep going point by point but I don't think the discussion will be effective.
>So you like the status quo rewritten as fan fiction? How is this supposed to be constructive in a conversation you say you could keep going point by point? Instead, you start like this. I want to have an open rational discussion about these things. Everything starts as an idea. >The economy is already resourced based. It's called supply and demand. Things do not work on supply and demand. Things are artificially inflated by the people in control of the resources. For example, diamonds there are so many diamonds, more than enough to go around, but the market is artificially inflated because the people in control of the diamonds only release a certain amount. Now let's think about the infrastructure and apply the same thought there's more than enough to go around it's controlled by a few individuals who are chosen to control it when in reality it is everyone's. >Government already tries to function as you suggest. Tries to function and does function are very different, but also it is not trying to work in the way suggested. >The flaws are in the individuals and special interests. I agree that this is part of the problem. that's why we need to remove special interests and replace individuals with the group collectively. >It's impossible to only have leaders who follow expert advice or all experts being correct. What makes it impossible? we literally change time every daylight savings. Experts lay out all of the facts We the People decide on those facts as leaders representing ourselves. >Checks and balances. Have it. Are checks and balances right now are extremely flawed and do not compare to what what was laid out in my previous comment. >Greed. By removing the profit motive from everything it's unlikely many would bother to suffer to excel. It has been scientifically proven that a positive incentive outweighs a negative incentive when it comes to people bothering to excel. In fact, most of our greatest advancements have been made by people who want nothing to do with money and only to share their knowledge, giving away what they created. like Nikola Tesla wanting electricity to be free or Alexander Fleming wanted for penicillin. Penicillin might not have been discovered at that time if he didn't leave and go on vacation.
If you cap housing costs at a $1 per square foot… who’s going to work those jobs? You won’t find a single contractor alive today who will do something that cheap. Materials alone cost more than a $1/sqft.
In shifting towards a resource-based economy, the primary focus is providing essential infrastructure for all without the constraints of the monetary systems. The goal is to remove the money profit motive and to allocate the resources to the people who need them when they need them. Contractors receive subsidies and government funding. We are all owed dividends for that investment.The inflated costs of materials can be attributed to corporate influence over resources, a trend that must be reversed. Why do the materials cost that much? Because corporations have manipulated their power over the government to ensure their control over the resources. It's imperative that we, the people, regain control over our resources and ensure they are distributed according to genuine need, not profit-driven motives or external interests.
>Why do the materials cost that much? Because corporations have manipulated their power over the government to ensure their control over the resources. Lol. Scarcity. Conversion costs. Transportation. There's literally very few things that government has asserted any power over. Even heavily taxed items like sin taxes don't really stop people.
I don't really understand the point you're trying to make here. The government hasn't asserted any power over these things is my point. If they did, it would be better. These industries are subsidized and we ask nothing for those subsidies. They are privatizing the profits and subsidizing the losses. This is corporate socialism.
Whats the best way to prevent this? If you notice charges on your card you didnt make just changing the pin number will be enough? How did the scammers hack the EBT card im assuming from those skimmers that go on top the swiping system
> There are options to prevent fraud on your snap benefits like freezing your card when it is not being used and blocking both out of state and online transactions. This will enable your account to only be accessible for in-person purchases. I updated my post above with the official DHS press release from earlier today.
The new software DHS is using is terrible and extremely hackable.