Lost or stolen EBT card: replacing it and protecting your benefits

An EBT card works like a debit card with a PIN, and it has none of a bank card’s fraud protections. Once money leaves the account it is usually gone, so speed matters more than anything else in this guide.

The first ten minutes

1. Call the EBT customer-service number for your state (on the back of the card and on each state page here) or open the ebtEDGE or ConnectEBT app, and report the card lost or stolen. The card is deactivated immediately; nothing can be charged to it after that call.
2. Check the recent transactions while you are on the line or in the app. Note anything you did not make, with date, time and store.
3. Order the replacement. The same call does it. Most states mail the new card within 5 to 7 business days; some county offices can issue one over the counter the same day, and a few states charge a small fee (typically $2 to $5) after the first or second replacement in a year.

Your benefits stay in the account; they are tied to the case, not the plastic. The new card picks up the existing balance and your deposit day does not change.

If benefits were stolen

Card skimming (a device on a store terminal copies the card and PIN; the account is drained the night benefits post, often in another state) became the most common SNAP theft from 2022 onward. For two years Congress required states to replace skimmed benefits with federal money; that authority expired on December 20, 2024, and FNS stopped funding replacements for thefts after that date. Since then:

• Several states (including California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New York, among others) replace stolen benefits with state funds, usually once or twice a year and up to one or two months of benefits. Your state agency’s site says whether yours does.
• In all states you should still report the theft to the SNAP office within the window the state sets (often 10 to 30 days), file a police report if asked, and keep the transaction list. Reporting also feeds the retailer investigations FNS runs.
• Cash assistance loaded on the same card may have different replacement rules from SNAP.

Preventing the next loss

• Freeze the card between shopping trips. Both official apps have a card-lock switch; frozen cards reject every transaction, including skimmed copies. Unfreeze at the register.
• Change your PIN before your deposit day each month if your state’s app allows it, and never use your birth year or 1234.
• Cover the keypad and look for anything loose on the card reader; skimmers are usually overlays.
• Block out-of-state and online use in the app if you do not need them. Several states added these controls in 2024 and 2025.
• Ignore texts and calls about your card. States do not text links, and the customer-service line never calls you for your PIN.

Cards that stop working

A card that is declined with money on it is usually a damaged magnetic stripe (replace it the same way), an inactive card after a long gap in benefits (reactivation needs a call to the SNAP office, not the EBT line), or a PIN locked after too many wrong tries (resets through the customer-service line). If the account shows a zero balance on your deposit day with no theft, the issue is the case, not the card; see why a deposit might be late.

Sources: USDA FNS, “Protect Your EBT Benefits” and the December 2024 guidance ending federal replacement of stolen benefits; state agency EBT pages.