 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 years. Officials say the scammers are stealing recipients' card information by placing skimming devices on retailers' card swiping machines. About $4 million of that $5.5 million that was stolen came directly from the Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.