Elon Musk warned on X that hundreds or possibly thousands of fraud rings involving almost every nationality are stealing money from U.S. taxpayers, after attention focused on organized theft of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits through Electronic Benefit Transfer card skimming. Federal agencies have not independently verified his estimate, and the Government Accountability Office does not publish a nationwide count, although it says perpetrators range from individuals to organized crime groups. GAO found that states replaced more than $320 million in stolen SNAP benefits for nearly 679,000 households between October 2022 and December 2024, a figure that excludes unapproved claims. Federal authority to replace benefits stolen after Dec. 20, 2024, expired. Most SNAP EBT cards reviewed by GAO in 2025 lacked embedded chips, while the USDA is supporting state transitions to chip-enabled cards and other security measures. Federal cases include five Romanian citizens charged over an alleged nearly $1 million scheme in Ohio and California, more than 50 defendants charged since 2023 in San Diego, and a New York case involving an alleged $66 million fraud and bribery scheme. Authorities said more than $310 million was stolen from California EBT beneficiaries between June 2022 and January 2026.