New records show 93 Oakland County residents went to the sheriff in 2023 after discovering their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits had vanished from their Bridge Cards. Many only realized something was wrong when their cards were declined at the register, and the fraud often wiped out freshly loaded benefits within minutes, hitting residents across age groups.
Police reports point to skimmers at gas stations and corner stores
Roughly 365 pages of police reports describe skimming devices planted on point-of-sale terminals at gas stations, liquor stores, and grocery checkouts. The documents also show thieves hustling from store to store to cash out stolen benefits as quickly as possible, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential. A Save-A-Lot in Pontiac appears repeatedly as the place where stolen funds were spent, showing up in at least ten reports. Individual losses ranged from about $92 to more than $1,000. Most of the reported activity clustered between March and May 2023, with May alone accounting for 28 reports.
Lawmakers and investigators push for reforms
The problem has reached the state Capitol, where oversight hearings this spring highlighted weak front-end verification and warned that Michigan could face federal consequences if error rates do not improve, according to WILX/News 10. Lawmakers responded by approving funding for a technology upgrade meant to make Bridge Cards harder to clone. Reporting on the plan says the state budget includes money to swap magnetic-stripe cards for chip-enabled versions, part of a larger push that state officials and investigators say should cut down on skimming at small retailers.
State investigation numbers and the upgrade timeline
Documents reviewed by reporters show the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General opened about 26,903 investigations in 2023-24 and made dozens of referrals to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and law enforcement. The state expects to complete the rollout of chip-enabled Bridge Cards by August 2026, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential. Experts cited in the records caution that while chip cards should make old-school skimming harder, many schemes now lean on stolen identities and sluggish information sharing across states. "It's organized theft driven by stolen identities and compromised cards," Haywood Talcove of LexisNexis told reporters, urging a mix of analytics and targeted retailer audits to stop large-scale drains.
What retailers and cardholders should do now
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is urging retailers to upgrade point-of-sale systems so they can accept SNAP EBT chip and tap cards and allow fallback to magnetic stripe while states and merchants finish testing, according to guidance from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service. Cardholders who get an unexpected decline are advised to check their balance, contact the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to request a replacement card, and file a police report so investigators can track patterns. Retailers that notice rapid, multi-store redemptions on a single account are encouraged to alert their payment processor and local law enforcement to help freeze compromised cards.
How to report suspected theft in Oakland County
Oakland County residents who suspect their Bridge Card was skimmed can contact the sheriff's office through the county website, which lists non-emergency dispatch numbers and records contacts for the Pontiac substation, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. Police reports indicate many victims only realized their benefits were gone when they tried to pay at checkout, a pattern officials and advocates say underlines the need for card upgrades and better analytics. Until those protections are fully in place, residents are urged to monitor balances closely, report suspicious activity quickly, and keep records of any declined transactions.
