The Antelope Valley Times

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Task force targets EBT card fraud in LA County; 16 arrested

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A recent investigation targeting Electronic Benefit Transfer card fraud in Los Angeles County led to the arrests of 16 suspects and the seizure of hundreds of illegally cloned EBT cards and more than $100,000 in cash, authorities said Thursday, Sept. 1.

“For some time now, suspects have been stealing the private account information of California’s EBT card holders,” officials said in a news release.

“These suspects then create illegal cloned cards encoded with that victim account information and conduct large cash withdrawals from the victims’ accounts at ATM machines throughout Los Angeles County and the entire state of California, causing millions of dollars in losses to federal, state and local taxpayers,” the news release states.

The Southern California High Tech Task Force includes personnel from the The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and the Los Angeles Police Department in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture-Office of Inspector General.

The Task Force worked in conjunction with the California Department of Social Services, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, and multiple financial institutions led by Bank of America’s Global Protective Services Team, to identify the locations in Los Angeles County where suspects were committing the majority of these crimes.

Investigators arrested 16 suspects and seized 339 illegally cloned EBT cards and $106,269 in cash. The suspects names were not immediately released.

Felony criminal filings by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Cyber Crimes Division are pending against each of the suspects arrested during the recent operation. Los Angeles County was one of several counties that participated in the statewide effort to combat EBT Fraud.

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call the Southern California High Tech Task Force at 818-576-8860 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.

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38 comments for "Task force targets EBT card fraud in LA County; 16 arrested"

  2. Ive been waiting for almost 3 months for my reimbursement, it happened on the 3rd of January, I filled and submitted form did police report, have called 100 times to be placed on hold while random worker ( because l.a. county does not have direct numbers to workers) reviews mu account and notes ….started with 10-25 days then on 10th day told weekends and holidays dint count, 25th day(2 months later) assuring me they called supervisor and should get reimbursed within 24…48…24 and now its going to be 3 months since and no updates nothing at all … were a family of 6, i felt my blood drop when I was at the atm and got declined twice, then went to another bank and pin error… checked balance $0 even they even got the 0.17 cents on my food stamps…

  3. It’s happened to me three times no I have to wait 26 days until my funds are deposited back to the ebt card I walked into the Los Angeles Department of Public Soccial Service office with my forms in my polish report, and my direct deposit form so that I will not become a victim of the scam again I was told by the customer service rep, didn’t even know who to give the direct deposit form to now, the supervisor Miss Allen is holding off on replacing the money because it’s the third time. How can I control how many times brought stairs that are most likely working for the department or taking my stipend for their own greedy selves can somebody tell me how do you complain? Who do you write to? What can we do as recipients to demand protection to demand that the customer service representatives should know where to email forms and direct us in the right direction set this won’t happen to us again.

    • What are you talking about? They’re not welfare recipients taking money from others, they’re crime rings not on benefits who have chosen to steal. Also, what would selling your car do? You’re ranting about nothing coherent.

  5. We are talking about generational, professional social brand medical fraudulent recipients. I met some wealthy people who are so proud to be able to get on welfare.

    • These people work for the state I was a victim they stole my money twice and it said they work and steal your identity and make these cards and take your benefits they just took mines on the second so if they busted them on September 1 then there some still out here I Guarantee they work the state or the county where they have our information

    • Inside job..workers stealing…this is the worst of the worst…no one is trying to stop it…FEDS NEED to TAKE OVER

  6. But wait! I thought there was no EBT fraud. Hmmm. All those people citing govt backed studies that say there is little fraud. What a fu—- joke! This is likely the tip off the iceberg.

    • The fraud isn’t occurring from people on welfare doing welfare fraud. Fraud is being done by those with a lot of money and staying wealthy by stealing benefits. All those studies are correct and your entire comment is potato

      • This just happened to me on December 3rd at 6am… They took out $1000 at a Wells Fargo and then two other transactions at 711 ATMs and left me And my homeless family $3. We live in motels while trying to find work and stable housing after losing everything during COVID and struggling to get back on our feet. We spend the money on things for our children and rent in motels so we aren’t on the street. It’s sad when these criminals are targeting people who are already struggling. I would like to mention i have never allowed anyone to use my card or given anyone my pin and had my card on me at the time of the transactions. I have done everything required of me by social services and still might not have a place to stay on Christmas let alone be able to give my kids a Christmas at all because of this and because it’s so prevelant recently social services is backed up investigating so we probably won’t be gettinf our money back anytime soon.

        • Exact same thing happened to me at the exact time. We’re just in 2 different places. No light at the end of the tunnel as to when or how we‘ll be reimbursed for our stolen benefits. The bill that’s in the process of being passed doesn’t reimburse for cash only snap. Maybe somewhere down the line. Make sure you file a police report, go on the OIG website and file a complaint also contact your state representatives and federal congressman, heck I was thinking about contacting the president. I might do that. This is serious and all I hear is lip service. We want our money back that’s it that’s all. Not talk.

      • I checked my ebt food snap balance and someone had cleaned my account (yesterday my balance was 710$ for a family of 7) today I went to buy eggs and oil at Walmart and my card was declined.
        I called to see what had happened and I was asked: where were you at 7pm today? To which I answered: home. The lady on the other line said: well 10min ago someone spent 700$ from your ebt.
        I said: but the card is with me and I’m the only one with the pin.

        I hope they find out who did this and replace my food benefits.

        • Today 12/03/2022
          I went to get my cash benefits and was stolen from my EBT card..700.00…..im soo post…
          And I have my EBT card with me how the hell did my money get stolen……,

          • Mine happened the same day. $1360. They left us $3. All the ATMs we’re in Los Angeles and all occurred within 20 minutes at 3 locations. I am so sorry this happened to you as well. We were instructed to make a claim with EBT customer service for each fraudulent charge as well as contact our social service department to have them send us a form to complete and we were also instructed to make a police report. As long as you complete the above tasks and turn in form with your social service worker within 90 days and had the card at the time of fraudulent transactions and can provide it to your worker to prove it was in your possession, you should get your money back…. We were told it was a three week turn around time for paperwork so that is not great but hopefully you completed everything and get youroney back before Christmas.

          • On the 2nd $750 was taken from me…. I’m in Ventura county… I’ve filed a claim and getting the police report done today as I have to get rides because I’m disabled…. I don’t understand how our account get hacked, our information stolen… my son and I are without rent money or necessities, this has happened 2x on my SSI disabilities card also (that I didn’t get refunded).

    • They do not want to unlist their clients. They will miss some funding if they do. And we tax payers will pay

  8. So Wait, does this involve people who show up to the welfare office on their bike, in their Escalades or Mercedes Benz with their fancy shoes on their feet and brand new luis vutton purse or Lu Lu Lemon pants that cost more than 3 months worth of food stamps by Any Chance?

    • It should be easy to see who sales their EBT electronically, so you would think. I bet you could even see it more clearly on a map….

    • FYI…. This had nothing 2 do with what you are asking about or that you are stating in regards to the “People who show up to the welfare office in their Mercedes Benz or Louis Vuitton hand bags”. Although I’m sure that there are ppl like what you are describing in your comment, that do in fact collect foodstamps & cash aide assistance, who do come in their expensive cars/ name brand/ expensive hand bags, I’ve actually seen this myself in the past, so yes this does happen. But….. What this article is describing is that there are now ppl who actually steal legitimate benefits both cash aide & foodstamp monthly payments. They are stealing their EBT card details, along with the individual’s personal identification & personal information. These criminals then take the legitimate EBT card details and create an exact clone/copy of it & transfer those same card details onto the clone card.
      What I find rather concerning is the fact that these criminals are able to somehow retrieve such personal information. That’s clearly a breach in their security within the social services system, a state ran program, a Govt program, which only the highest levels of security should be implemented within their site. What I would like to know in much more details is how they are able to access such sensitive information from a governmental website, that is the only place they could possibly get the needed information to create these “clone ebt cards”. As stated, there has been a major security breach of huge proportions. When was the breach detected? What information was compromised? How many individuals were effected? Did the county, state, notify all the individuals about the fact that their personal information was stolen by these criminals? I understand that hackers are just utterly everywhere, in all facets of the cyber world. What I find truly unacceptable is that any government institution that holds such private/personal data on individual citizens (&non citizens who receive state welfare benefits both cashaide and foodstamp payments) doesn’t have the utmost highest level of security within its domain. I’m not expecting top notch like they hopefully have within the military and similar but anything in relation to private data, identity theft threats, etc, I’d think such factors would be of a much higher importance. Not to mention if in fact there are these possibilities &capabilities out there that can be created&used by criminals, I’d think that they’d Def want 2 cover all bases so this wouldn’t happen. I’m sure that the ppl getting their cashaide/foodstamps stolen from them would be repaid any losses they incurred due to the faulty security within their own website and domain.. In turn that has got to be costing CA and LA county an excessive amount of money, most importantly its costing the tax payers excessive amounts of money.. ALL OF THIS IS DISGUSTING. These low life, poor excuses 4 human beings, who have no shame in their criminality are such vile scum bags. My utter disdain for trash like this has no words to describe my feelings in their true depth & entirety. How could Anyone steal from members of our society that are clearly barely able to keep their heads above water, most who get to this point of needing assistance are drowning. Receiving this help by no means keeps them afloat,nor does it change their struggling situations. It does give them the guarantee that 4 a short window of time within that month, that they won’t go starving, that they’ll have food to eat and that they will be able to put money towards their rent or bills 4 that month. To steal from ppl who literally have nothing at all already, well that is an evil that is beyond anything else. Obviously these criminals have no couth, no morals, no standards, no class at all about themselves but this type of criminality takes it even lower then low. There is a special place in hell 4 these types. SERIOUSLY..

      • Well let me put your mind at ease a little, no, there’s not a breach of security at the dpss office or ssc office, it’s quite simple really. The breach is on all those stores y’all shop online. Everybody wants to put all their info to shop online and if u haven’t noticed all those data breaches that go on and the notify the public sometimes. Well that’s where it comes from, then all that information from the data breach gets put back online for sale on the dark web.. then when u go on the dw to buy a card info u get thousands of cards to choose from. You make it purchase and bam u got all the info. Then u make a card. So moral of the story is QUIT PUTTING UR CARD INFO ONLINE! IF U LIKE SHOPPING ONLINE. DONT BE SHOCKED WHEN SOMEONE BUYS YOUR WHOLE LIFE FOR $6

        • Lmao… you can’t really use an EBT card to “Shop Online” dear. I believe the only place that allows such a thing is groceries from Walmart or Amazon which is Bey fervent, per google.

      • These people use card skimmers to clone cards. They don’t need to hack our government sites or get personal information. All they need is some one to attempt to pull out cash from an ATM machine. They have the card skimmers that jot down all the information from a card. They also have a hidden camera recording them put in their pin. And just FYI most of the time victims do not get their money back. The sad truth is that all california needs to do is add a chip on the ebt card so people wouldn’t fall victim to these horrible crimes. Technically since the cards not chipped any money stolen from them is not the responsibility of the merchant to refund since they only cover chip card transactions and ca makes it darn near impossible for you to recover funds because that needs to come out of their budget since Technically they aren’t sending out secured cards that protect people from falling victim to crimes like these.. other than your comments pretty on point

        • Someone stole $1,130 off my card yesterday a day before my birthday and the card is in my possession it shows it was withdrawn from a Los Angeles atm when I live in maryland that was my rent they stole

          • Today someone stole my money in three transactions! This was our entire rent money and bills. Literally left $2 on the card. They went to a liquor store, Bank of America and Wells Fargo in Los Angeles! I called the number on the ebt and they said I have to wait for 26 days for them to investigate and make a police report and take it to our dpss. This is so stressful.

      • Your wrong these cards are not being stolen online. Educate yourself these people use card holders pins and the only way they can accomplish stealing benifets like this is using a card skimmers. Any one can fall victim to this. Especially since ca doesn’t secure cards with a security chip that protects people from crimes like this.

        • Uhhhhh…no. If the cardholder uses their card on line and submits the pin (which they have to do) there are a world of ways it can be stolen, most of which are easier than card skimmers.

          How the information for the cloned cards was obtained in this particular case does not justify a claim that “the only way” to steal that information is with a card skimmer.

        • I personally think it’s an inside job . I know for a fact at this local office due to covid 19 ..they would not allow you inside the actual dpss office. Now prior to covid ..You got your ent card from cashier and actually got to choose your pin number.. Coincidentally , now that the covid crap hit this local office had u outside with tables and chairs to accommodate BUT I felt it was kinda strange that at the time all this is going on ..the local office didn’t allow you to create your own pin for your card as they did prior. I know for a fact my EBT card was issued to me and a cashier from the office choose my pin for me .and brought it out to me on a lil piece of paper .. NOW 3 days after that .My benefits are suppose to be issued ( about midnight ) I checked my balance at 1205 am ..MY MONEY was safe .. next morning I go to market and card declined yes it was in my possession just 3 days old . I call check balance BAM! They got me I soon after discover at 12 16 am ( just 11 min after I checked my balance previously) . My benefits were sucked out of my card . And you better believe Dpss makes you jump threw hoops they want a police report etc .. and your treated like a lying theif . I suggest people change there pins often

      • I couldn’t agree more. Thank you for that. We just want the officials who are in charge to care as if someone has taken their livelihood from them and go after these monsters with every resource available. Where’s the FBI when you need them? Also we need transparency. We need to know that our complaints aren’t sitting on someone’s desk. We want to know that we are heard and the designated persons are working tirelessly to ensure we get our benefits back. Save the talking. We demand results.

    • Just because a person has all or some of the items you mentioned does not mean they didn’t have a fall or setback. Folks Need to worry about what’s in their own pockets and stop dictating what other people are driving wearing or Toting mind your own business