Excluded Workers Fund debit card thefts have been reported by over 70 beneficiaries, which has left some of their accounts with losses of up to $6,000.
Courtesy Make the Road New York
This story was originally published by Documented on Jan. 26, 2022
Elizabeth was elated when she received a notice that she had been approved to receive financial assistance from the Excluded Workers Fund (EWF). She had gotten COVID-19 in early May of 2020 and lost her job as a house cleaner and had fallen behind on rent. She was surviving on borrowed cash from her family.
On Nov. 5, 2021, she received a debit card in the mail with $14,820 on it. “It was a blessing from God, it felt like my early Christmas present,” said Elizabeth, who is 34 years old and like others Documented spoke to for this article, preferred to use a pseudonym. She used a third of the money to pay back the debt to her family, around $5,800, and with the rest she was able to buy food, school supplies for her older son, 16, and a new backpack for her daughter, 5.
Early one December morning, she took her usual stroll to her local bank in Jamaica, Queens, to withdraw the money she depended on for food and her expenses. She put in her card and punched in her pin, and shortly after a message popped up on the ATM screen: she had insufficient funds in her account, it said. She called the company who issued the card and was told that she only had $25 left. Somehow, $3,200 had disappeared.
