Michigan’s Bridge card system was hacked, police say

An Oakland County law enforcement officer reported in 2024 that Michigan’s Bridge Card system had been hacked. The report, which Michigan Capitol Confidential obtained through a records request, was included in the county’s investigation of food-stamp theft reported by a 66-year-old resident.

“I forwarded the report to (Michigan Department of Health and Human Services) Investigator (Joseph) Adcock for follow up,” Officer Matt McPherson wrote in a May 13, 2024. His comment came on a police report of alleged SNAP fraud. “This has been an ongoing issue for sometime where the Bridge card system was hacked and multiple users numbers/pins were discovered.”

The investigation centered on a claim by Alfred Audry Dendy II that $248 worth of his food stamps benefits were stolen and spent at a Sam’s Club in Georgia. Dendy canceled the card after his balance was depleted.

“Alfred stated that on 05/08/2024, someone used his bridge card at Sams Club in Georgia,” the police report said. “Alfred did not give anyone his PIN number (sic) for the card and does not know anyone in Georgia. Alfred advised he has canceled the bridge card. Alfred could not provide any further information.”

The reported hack could help explain a 400% increase in reported SNAP fraud from 2023-24, uncovered by Michigan Capitol Confidential. CapCon has reported on the spike in fraud in a 25-story series over the last two years. Neither the state of Michigan nor the vendor that was allegedly hacked will confirm or deny the data breach.

CapCon found the document in a tranche of more than 500 pages of SNAP fraud reports it obtained from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office through a records request. The documents are from 2023, 2024 and 2025.

The state health department denied several records requests from CapCon, referring it to FIS, a Florida-based technology company, that serves as the vendor for the state’s Electronic Benefit Transfer cards.

FIS referred CapCon’s inquiry about the possible Bridge card hack to the state health department, which did not respond to a request for comment. Its FOIA team explained why it denied the records request.

“The issue here is that our Economic Stability Administration has indicated that ‘MDHHS is not the responsible party for EBT card numbers and does not have any record of or access to EBT card PINs,’ so it would seem that MDHHS would not be the party ‘hacked’ for this information since we do not have access to this information,” wrote the state employee who responded.

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office searched its records for documents containing the terms “data breach,” “compromised,” or “hacked,” within the last four years but did not find much.

“In response to your questions concerning the narrative contained in the attached report, I conducted a search of our records management system covering the past four years,” Tyler Sweers, deputy sheriff and public information officer for Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, wrote in an email to CapCon. “That search yielded very few reports involving SNAP or Bridge Card fraud. Additionally, I found no instances in which the terms ‘data breach,’ ‘compromised, or ‘hacked’ appeared within the narrative of any report other than this case.”

Sweers recommended that CapCon go back to state officials.

“For questions regarding potential data breaches, compromised accounts, or cybersecurity-related concerns involving benefits programs, I would recommend contacting the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), as they would be the appropriate agency to address those matters.”

In June 2023, FIS was hacked by cybercriminals, according to Twingate, a company that provides information technology security.

It is not clear whether that hack involved card numbers and PINs from Michigan’s Bridge Card system. But after 2023, hundreds of Michiganders reported that their SNAP benefits were being depleted at grocery stores in New York, Maryland, Texas and other states. The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released more information about the hack, but the report didn’t specifically name the state of Michigan as a victim.

From fiscal years 2023-25, more than $1.5 million in SNAP benefits were replaced over 2,968 approved claims, according to a stolen benefits dashboard provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

One person has been arrested outside the state and extradited to Michigan to face charges since 2024, according to information CapCon received through a records request to the state health department.

Between Jan. 1, 2020, and Aug. 19, 2025, state courts have received 142 filings under MCL 750.300a, part of the penal code relating to food stamp crime. That number includes both felony and misdemeanor cases, according to data from the Michigan Supreme Court’s State Court Administrative Office Judicial Data Warehouse.