 Our state is dealing with what officials are calling an alarming surge in food stamp scams. Here's Northwest News Radio's Frank Lindsey. The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services says residents receiving food assistance through electronic benefit transfer, or EBT, have lost a combined total of $5.5 million to scams in the past couple of weeks. Officials say the scammers are stealing recipients' card information by placing skimming devices on retailers' card-swiping machines.