Using someone else’s EBT card is not automatically illegal. A household can select someone to buy eligible food for that household, and SNAP provides an authorized-representative process. Using another household’s benefits for your own groceries, buying benefits for cash, or using a stolen card presents a very different issue. The purpose and authorization matter. [1][2]
Helping the household shop
USDA advises people who need help buying groceries because of disability, transportation problems, or another reason to ask their caseworker about designating a trusted authorized representative. Follow the state agency’s procedure and use the benefits only for eligible purchases for the participating household. Permission to help is not permission to convert the benefits into your own spending money. [1]
Keep receipts and make sure the household receives the food. Avoid mixing purchases in a way that makes it unclear whose benefits paid for which items. EBT can also deliver benefits from programs other than SNAP, so identify the program before assuming every card balance has the same rules.
Misuse and trafficking are separate from assistance
USDA’s guidance explains that benefits may be used by the household or a person it selects to buy food for that household. Selling benefits or offering an EBT card for sale violates that framework. A cardholder’s consent does not make an exchange of benefits for cash lawful. [2]
A person who unknowingly handles the wrong card is not automatically in the same position as someone knowingly trading benefits. Investigators must consider the actual facts and the intent required by the applicable violation.
Possible consequences
Federal law imposes criminal penalties for knowing unauthorized use, transfer, acquisition, alteration, or possession of SNAP benefits. The statute differentiates amounts: covered conduct involving $5,000 or more can carry up to twenty years, while $100 to less than $5,000 can carry up to five years. Lower-value conduct can still be a misdemeanor. These are statutory ceilings, not automatic sentences. [3]
Program disqualification, repayment, and state charges may also be relevant. Do not assume repayment by itself closes an administrative or criminal case. Review the specific notice, transaction history, alleged intent, and hearing or response deadline.
If a card is lost or misused, contact the administering agency promptly and secure the account. Compare how an inheritance affects SNAP and gambling income under disability programs when distinguishing lawful benefit use from eligibility and reporting questions.
Primary sources
- USDA: Facts About SNAP
- USDA: Selling or offering SNAP benefits and EBT cards
- 7 USC 2024: Violations and enforcement
Sources checked: October 31, 2026.