Almost $39M stolen from low-income families' EBT cards in SoCal

Fifteen suspects were arrested for stealing over $38 million from low-income Southern California families.

The suspects targeted funds disbursed through CalWORKs and CalFresh programs, which “help low-income beneficiaries purchase food and provide for basic needs,” said the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In total, over $38.9 million was stolen from victims’ EBT cards for the food stamp program, officials said.

A large-scale operation resulted in the arrest of 15 suspects, many of whom authorities say are Romanian nationals.

Over 300 law enforcement officers monitored 20 ATM locations across the Los Angeles area during the investigation.

The suspects used “cloned” cards to fraudulently withdraw money. Cloned cards are “debit cards, gift cards or other devices with magnetic strips that have been encoded with information from legitimate EBT cards,” officials explain.

Investigators recovered 429 cloned cards containing state-issued EBT information.