Some CalFresh recipients have reached out to the I-Team saying their electronic benefits transfer, or EBT, cards have been hacked by scammers. The state uses these cards to distribute money to low income residents, which they can use to buy food. But now, after getting hacked, some recipients are left penniless. The I-Team dug into how bad the problem is and what you can do to keep your money safe.
It was at the checkout lane at the grocery store when Sean Ostriker learned something was wrong with his CalFresh EBT card.
“It was denied. It said I had no funds there,” he said.
Ostriker later checked the card’s balance, and said $280 was gone. He filed a complaint with the California Department of Social Services, or CDSS, which runs the program. In the meantime, CDSS issued Ostriker a new card. And he said money was stolen from that one too, this time $330.
Ostriker said both times the stolen funds were used at a convenience store 3,000 miles away in Brooklyn. Other CalFresh recipients have complained online about the exact same thing.
“It sucks that the state is supposed to be providing these benefits to the people who need it, and it’s instead going to scammers with seemingly no end in sight,” said Ostriker.
It turns out that the cards are easy for scammers to hack and duplicate, because they contain old technology – a magnetic stripe – instead of the harder-to-hack “chip” technology.
CDSS admits it’s a problem. It turned…
