Imagine depending on SNAP benefits to put food on the table, but when you get to the register, the cashier tells you your card declined…That’s what happened to Newark resident Jasmin Wilson and she was shocked.

"I said declined? I said maybe I put the wrong pin in. So, I tried it again, she said, 'No, how much do you have on your card?' I said like a hundred and something dollars," Wilson recounts regarding the exchange with the cashier at a ShopRite.

And Wilson isn’t the only one whose card is being used without ever having lost the physical card. A News 12 viewer sent in a video of a line outside the Family Services building in Jersey City with people trying to figure out who was swiping their benefits.

News 12 reached out to the Hudson County Executive’s Office, which said they’ve seen a surge in scams targeting SNAP and Work First New Jersey benefit recipients.

"The Hudson County Law Department, via its Office of Consumer Affairs, will investigate these thefts and will be in contact with state law enforcement officials to provide monetary relief to victims," a spokesperson for the office wrote in part.

However, a statement from the State Department of Human Services stated in part, "New Jersey is currently unable to use federal or state funds to restore SNAP or Work First New Jersey cash assistance benefits stolen on or after December 21, 2024, unless federal funding and spending authority is reinstated."

Back in Essex County, Wilson, like many SNAP Benefit recipients, was told to lock her card when it’s not in use. As for her bare cupboards, she’s forced to stretch what’s already there until next month and she'll likely have to hit a food pantry.

"The cabinet is really empty. I had three children, so I know how to survive," Wilson said.