CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is alerting Mountain State residents to a telephone scam involving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Consumers receive calls from someone claiming to be from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources and are told that their SNAP benefits are being closed. To “continue receiving benefits,” they are instructed to press a number. This then connects them with someone who is trying to steal their personal, identifiable information.
DHHR does not call SNAP beneficiaries to inform them of the closing of their benefits. Rather, it sends all official notices by U.S. mail.
“This most recent scam preys upon some of our state’s most vulnerable populations and is further proof that there is no limit to how low scammers will go to steal people’s information and potentially ruin their lives,” said Attorney General Morrisey. “Folks can never be too cautious, and this most recent scam only serves to illustrate that point.”
The Attorney General encourages SNAP beneficiaries and all West Virginians to in all instances never share personally identifiable, financial and otherwise sensitive information without verifying the legitimacy of the recipient.
The same goes for never agreeing to send cash, wire money or provide numbers associated with a credit/debit card, gift card or bank account.
For more information regarding DHHR benefits, contact DHHR’s Customer Service Center at 1-877-716-1212.
Anyone who believes they have been the victim of the SNAP benefit scam should contact the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at 1-800-368-8808, the Eastern Panhandle Consumer Protection Office in Martinsburg at 304-267-0239 or visit the office online at www.wvago.gov.