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Michigan’s food stamp program saw a dramatic drop in fraud last year, on the heels of reporting from Michigan Capitol Confidential. Fraud should continue to decrease as the state rolls out reforms that CapCon repeatedly endorsed.
Michigan nearly halved its food stamp fraud from 2024 to 2025, according to a new state report.
The value of fraud reported in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was $7.7 million in 2025. That’s just more than half the $14 million reported for 2024.
That number should continue to drop as Michigan rolls out chipenabled SNAP cards in June.
A Michigan Capitol Confidential investigation into the program in 2024 and 2025 revealed that reported SNAP fraud had increased by nearly 400% from 2023 to 2024. The state health department sent 738 new SNAP cards every day, CapCon reported, because criminals were stealing card information through skimmers installed in high-traffic areas such as grocery stores, gas stations, and liquor stores.
The state report credited the progress in fighting fraud to new technology. Agencies have deployed algorithms to detect compromised SNAP and other benefits accounts. Governments have also detected and seized 33 skimming devices. Another new process helped identify cloned point-of-sale terminals. The government also tracks internet addresses on benefit applications to catch people living outside the state who apply for benefits.
About 1.4 million Michiganders swipe SNAP cards at around 10,000 retailers statewide to help buy groceries.
CapCon’s investigation pushed the state to upgrade its SNAP cards, something that the private sector began doing in 2015. Legislators prominently quoted our reporting during debates over food stamp fraud.
Later this year, Michigan will send new, upgraded SNAP cards that should deter thieves from stealing from Michigan’s poorest residents.
Michigan is one of eight states that are upgrading or have already upgraded SNAP cards. The others are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia.
Every dollar stolen by a criminal is money that doesn’t reach a family in need.
While many newspapers run recycled content, CapCon completes original investigations and gets results.
