ProPublica's investigation found scammers electronically stole about $470 million in 2025 from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients, according to data supplied by Propel. Investigators traced one ring, the so-called Red Bull Crew, to a Romanian criminal syndicate that used stolen SNAP account numbers and PINs to buy thousands of dollars of energy drinks at stores such as a Smart & Final in San Diego on Oct. 19, 2022. More than 990,000 households had benefits stolen last year, while federal reports show confirmed intentional fraud by recipients totals about $64 million annually. The federal government has stopped tracking organized theft from SNAP, so ProPublica relied on private Propel transaction data to quantify the problem. Security experts and advocates say adding microchip technology, like EMV chips used in credit cards for years, would block most of these thefts, but Congress has not funded such an upgrade. The story contrasts public claims by Vice President JD Vance and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins that individual recipients are the main fraudsters with evidence that organized, transnational theft accounts for the far larger losses. Without congressional action to fund a microchip rollout and restoring federal tracking, advocates warn that large-scale theft from recipients will continue to drain benefits and taxpayer funds.
