About 300 Maine households have been affected by a mass theft of about $76,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, state officials said Thursday.

The benefits, formerly known as food stamps, are being stolen “via fraudulent point of sale devices” that are registered in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California, according to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Family Independence.

The department noted that the incident is still unfolding and more households may be affected. Other states are also reporting thefts, DHHS added.

“This incident appears to be the result of large-scale theft involving stolen card numbers and PINs — sometimes referred to as ‘cloning’ — rather than a localized skimming device,” Ian Yaffe, director of the Office for Family Independence, said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “While this type of fraud and theft have occurred in other states, this is the first time we have seen it at this scale in Maine.”

In July, over 170,000 Mainers received about $29 million in SNAP benefits, according to DHHS.

Impacted SNAP recipients who had received their August benefits now will be unable to get more federal food assistance until September, the DHHS news release says, and federal rules prohibit the replacement of stolen SNAP benefits.

Lindsay Hammes, a spokesperson for Maine DHHS, said Friday that the federal authority that permitted the replacement of stolen SNAP benefits expired in December after Congress opted not to extend that protection.

“The Department has reached out to our partners at the (U.S. Department of Agriculture) to explore whether there will be any waivers or exceptions made, given this widespread, multi-state theft, to see whether replacement funds may be made available but the federal authorities have declined making any exceptions to this rule,” Hammes wrote in an email.

In the meantime, DHHS is working with those affected to connect them with local food pantries and other agencies to make up for the stolen benefits.

Yaffe also said DHHS is working with the federal government and the state’s EBT vendor to prevent further thefts.

The Office for Family Independence is working to contact clients affected by the theft.

The department urges all Maine SNAP recipients to change their EBT card PIN routinely as a security precaution.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on Aug. 15 to add more details from DHHS about potential replacement of the stolen benefits.