Stolen benefits flowed through a Pontiac grocery store as Michigan’s SNAP fraud crisis deepens

Criminals used a Save-A-Lot store in Pontiac to spend stolen food stamp benefits from low-income Michiganders, according to police reports obtained by Michigan Capitol Confidential. The thefts are part of a wider scheme that has driven SNAP fraud in Michigan up by nearly 400% from 2023 to 2024.

Ten separate police reports documented stolen SNAP benefits being spent at the Pontiac location. The Oakland County Sheriff’s office attempted to redact dollar amounts from the records it provided to investigators. Reports that contained unredacted figures showed individual victims lost between $92 and more than $1,000 in benefits.

"I reviewed this incident report. I am familiar with an uptick in these cases which is actually a national problem."

That was the assessment of one Oakland County Sheriff’s office officer who noted that Investigator Joseph Adcock from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services was handling the cases at the state level.

How the thefts work

Criminals place skimming devices on point-of-sale machines at gas stations, liquor stores, and grocery stores. The devices copy information from benefit cards. Fraudsters then clone the cards and sell the stolen data on the dark web or through social media.

Victims often did not know their benefits were stolen until their cards were declined at checkout. In most cases, the victim still had the physical card and said no one else had access to it. Once benefits are loaded onto a card, criminals can drain the account by visiting multiple stores within 30 minutes.

The stolen benefits were spent in states far from Michigan. Police reports showed transactions in Arkansas, California, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.

The 93 Oakland County victims whose cases were documented ranged in age from their 30s to their late 70s. One 77-year-old lost $92 in benefits. Another victim told police that her stolen benefits were intended for Thanksgiving dinner. She only discovered the loss when her card was rejected at the register.

The state’s response

Lawmakers approved $17 million to upgrade the security on Michigan’s SNAP cards after a Michigan Capitol Confidential investigation highlighted the growing fraud problem. The state expects to finish distributing the upgraded cards by August 2026.

But experts say the card upgrade alone will not solve the underlying problem.

"What these cases show is that SNAP fraud today is not a paperwork problem. It’s organized theft driven by stolen identities and compromised cards, often through skimming. Simply upgrading the card helps, but it doesn’t solve the underlying issue."

Haywood Talcove, CEO of LexisNexis Special Services and Risk Solutions Government, wrote in an email to CapCon that criminals are exploiting lagging analytics and slow communications between state and federal governments.

Talcove noted that Michigan has roughly 9,700 SNAP retailers. About 5,800 of those are small convenience stores. Those smaller shops lack the fraud controls that larger grocery chains typically have.

"States and USDA need to move from a ‘pay-and-chase’ model to real-time prevention — using analytics to detect unusual behavior, like benefits being spent across multiple states, and stopping those transactions before they clear."

Michigan refuses to share data with the federal government

The card upgrade comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture publicly criticized Michigan for refusing to share SNAP data with federal officials. The USDA says the state’s refusal could cost taxpayers up to $300 million starting in fiscal year 2028.

Twenty-eight states and the territory of Guam have agreed to share SNAP data with the USDA. The federal agency says that data sharing has already uncovered approximately $3 billion in fraud and abuse across participating states.

In 2025, Michigan reported $7.7 million in SNAP fraud, down from $14 million in 2024. The state’s payment error rate stands at 9.53%.

"They choose to protect illegals, criminals, and bad actors over the American taxpayer."

That was the assessment from a USDA spokesperson in an email to CapCon. The agency also criticized 21 other states for not participating in the data-sharing program, including California, New York, and Minnesota.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests for comment. The department administers the SNAP program, which is partially funded by the federal government.

Who relies on SNAP in Michigan

About 1.4 million people in Michigan depend on SNAP benefits. According to state records obtained by CapCon:

  • 297,670 recipients are ages 21 to 41
  • 237,834 recipients are ages 42 to 61
  • 187,800 recipients are ages 62 and older
  • At least 15 recipients were born before 1923

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General completed approximately 26,903 SNAP investigations statewide in 2023 and 2024. The department made 95 referrals to the USDA or law enforcement in 2023 and 91 referrals in 2024.

The Pontiac Save-A-Lot store was not the only location where stolen benefits were spent. But it stands out as one of the few Michigan stores specifically named in police reports as a destination for the fraud.