People in Pennsylvania are being alerted to a new scam targeting those who receive SNAP benefits.The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services said Wednesday that SNAP clients are receiving calls from several phone numbers saying that benefits are on hold until eligibility can be verified by calling a number and providing a pin.

SNAP development director Sasha Gersten-Paal has said there won't be enough funds to send benefits to the roughly 42 million food stamp recipients next month. However, the Trump Administration might be legally required to provide SNAP even during shutdown, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

We could see a surge in need for food assistance like we’ve never really seen before,” a spokeswoman for the nonprofit Feeding Pennsylvania said.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services is warning Pennsylvanians who receive SNAP benefits about an ongoing phone scam trying to get their PIN, listing three of the reported scam phone numbers. DHS said scammers have been calling SNAP recipients,

If the federal government shutdown continues into November, SNAP payments will dry up for nearly 472,000 residents in Philadelphia alone.

Federal food assistance is about to run dry in just over a week amid the protracted government shutdown. WellSpan is stepping up to help feed 1 million meals.