SNAP benefits are still being stolen in Pennsylvania. Here's how to protect your money.
Kathy Swingon is taking the month of July day by day.
The 57-year-old, who lives in West Philadelphia, recently tried to use her EBT card to access her SNAP benefits, only to find out there was no money in the account.
"When I went to go swipe, it was no money on the card, so I just was like devastated. I just left out the market," Swingon said. "It says zero, zero, zero."
Swingon said she relies on those benefits to put food in the refrigerator for herself and the three family members who live with her.
Swingon showed CBS News Philadelphia the transactions made within minutes of each other before 2 a.m.
While one location was in Philadelphia, the others were outside the city, including one as far as Wilkes-Barre.
"Never been there. I don't even know how to get there, to be honest, because I don't drive," she said.
READ MORE: What should I do if I'm a victim of stolen SNAP benefits?
She shared emails showing her card was "locked," which is thought to prevent bad actors from draining benefits.
"That's why I was like, how did they get it and it was locked?" she said.
Justin King is with Propel, an app used by Swingon and some 5 million others to manage SNAP benefits.
"There are real limitations to the tools that have been put into place," King said.
Propel is a private service that is not affiliated with the state of Pennsylvania, but King said it mimics the features offered in the state's app.
"In Pennsylvania, people have the choice to either lock their card totally or to block out-of-state transactions. In many states, people can do both of those things at the same time," King said.
With Swingon's permission, we provided her information to the company to look into her case further. They confirmed her account was locked, but it was only set to block out-of-state purchases.
Her benefits were used at stores in the state.
"The states need to step up and put more and better protections into place to help stop this terrible wave of EBT theft that's happening," King said.
King said the issue "is a national problem."
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services confirms it has "no relationship" with Propel.
A spokesperson added, "The Connect EBT app is the only app that Pennsylvania partners with to manage EBT card transaction history and lock and unlock features."
Connect EBT offers two card lock features — "lock my card everywhere," which prevents any purchases in store or online, or "lock my card outside of PA," which stops transactions outside the state but allows all others in Pennsylvania and online, the spokesperson said.
Swingon still has questions as she waits to see what happens in August
"I just hope it don't happen next month because if it happens next month, I'm really messed up," she said.
Until then, Swingon says she'll continue to check food banks and lean on her family for support.
Replacement benefits for those that are stolen stopped at the end of last year. Still, experts urge anyone who has had their benefits stolen to report it immediately to their county assistance office and the state department of human services.
Community Legal Services of Philadelphia offers free legal assistance to those in need.
"We are advising families about changing their PIN as much as they can and using card-locking features to the degree that they help, but unfortunately, this is still a huge problem in Pennsylvania. ... We think that the only solution is for Pennsylvania to invest in more secure EBT cards," Lydia Gottesfeld, managing attorney with Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, said.
A that would require Pennsylvania to move to chip-enabled EBT cards, which experts say are more secure, remains in the Senate after it passed out of the House.
