Maryland is launching a new advertising push featuring Gov. Wes Moore as state officials work to get more Electronic Benefits Transfer recipients to activate fraud-resistant chip-and-tap cards before older cards are shut off at the end of September.
More than 294,000 of Maryland’s nearly 507,000 recipients of the new cards had activated them as of Aug. 23, representing 58% of cardholders, according to a community announcement.
State officials said that customers have until Sept. 30 to activate the replacement cards. After that date, existing magnetic-stripe-only cards will be deactivated, though benefit balances will transfer automatically to the new cards…