Thieves draining millions off CalFresh, CalWORKs EBT cards while families wait, taxpayers pay

California uses EBT cards to deliver financial assistance for several programs, including CalFresh, which gives food aid to 2.8 million families a year and CalWORKs, which gives cash to more than 300,000 families a year. Smaller programs include assistance grants to refugees and immigrant crime victims.

What has been stolen in California so far amounts to a sliver of the total benefits California issued to all recipients — less than 1% of the cash benefits and less than a tenth of 1% of food aid.Still, the amount of EBT theft has nearly doubled since 2019, budget documents state. For example, if an aid recipient reports more than one theft within six months, social workers must flag their next claim for investigation.

The state added those codes, but the three months of data afterward show that benefits theft continued to rise, according to state figures.

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Thieves Drain Millions Off CalFresh And CalWORKS Recipients’ Cards, Families Wait And Taxpayers PayThe EBT cards the state uses to deliver financial assistance to low-income residents lack security features common to credit and debit cards. California officials plan to upgrade. Meanwhile, they’re paying millions to replace stolen money and food stamps.
Source: LAist - 🏆 606. / 51 Read more »