US States New York and Pennsylvania Adopt Chip-Enabled SNAP Cards to Fight Benefit Fraud

New York and Pennsylvania are moving to replace the magnetic‑stripe SNAP Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards with chip‑enabled cards to curb fraud. In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance contracted Fidelity Information Services to produce about two million chip cards, with distribution to begin in the first quarter of 2027. The state joins five others that already use chip cards for SNAP benefits.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services plans a six‑to‑eight‑month rollout funded by $7 million from its $50.8 billion state budget. The upgrade aims to stop skimming attacks that steal beneficiaries’ PINs and drain their food‑assistance funds, a problem the Government Accountability Office estimates costs hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide each year. The changes are expected to improve security for millions of SNAP recipients in both states.