 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. The state is working to reimburse people who have lost benefits to these scams. Frank Lindsay, Northwest News Radio. There's a new option for free college education. All you have to do is earn a spot at Johns Hopkins University.