Californians who rely on two state programs for help with food and other resources have had their accounts emptied due to fraud by organized crime networks. The state has done little to fix the problem, a source close to the investigation told KCRA 3 Investigates. Barry Montoya said that he received benefits from him last month, but when he went to get his money from the ATM, he realized that his CalFresh and CalWORKs benefits had run out. “July 3 is when I get my benefits,” Montoya said. “I checked my account and it had $221, but an hour later I went to an ATM to withdraw and was told I didn’t have enough funds.” Golden State Advantage card skimming.” He said Los Angeles County, which distributes the funds for his welfare and food stamps, told him to file police reports. The problem with filling out police reports is that scammers used his card throughout Southern California.” It was in three different cities that let you know, I mean, file a report in Rancho Cucamonga, I don’t know if you’re familiar with Los Angeles, but you know Montclair and East LA (those are) three different places that I would have to go, to three different police departments,” Montoya explained. The state Department of Social Services has not said how much money has been lost, leaving people like Montoya no choice but to try to figure out the system. on his own. Source close to investigation tells KCRA 3 that in March, California was losing $3 million a month due to this fraud. To add to the list of charges, M Ontoya said he received notice that there was a system error and the county deducted money that was stolen from his old card to his new debit card, leaving him overdrawn on benefits he never received. KCRA 3 contacted DSS on Friday and gave the department until Monday afternoon to respond to what is happening with the “Golden State Advantage” cards. The department did not respond to our request for comment.
Californians who rely on two state programs for help with food and other resources have had their accounts emptied due to fraud by organized crime networks. The state has done little to fix the problem, a source close to the investigation told KCRA 3 Investigates.
Barry Montoya said he received his benefits last month, but when he went to get his money from the ATM, he found that his CalFresh and CalWORKs benefits had run out.
“July 3 is when I get my benefits,” Montoya said. “I checked my account and it had $221, but an hour later I went to an ATM to withdraw and was told I didn’t have enough funds.”
Montoya lives in Southern California and emailed KCRA 3 Investigates after she came across stories we had done about “Golden State Advantage Card Skimming”. He said Los Angeles County, which distributes the funds for his welfare and food stamps, told him to file police reports.
The problem with filling out police reports is that scammers used your card all over Southern California.
“It was in three different cities that let you know, I mean, file a report in Rancho Cucamonga, I don’t know if you’re familiar with Los Angeles, but you know Montclair and East LA (those are) three different places that I would have to go to three different police departments,” Montoya explained.
The State Department of Social Services has not said how much money has been lost, which has left people like Montoya with no choice but to try to figure out the system on their own. The source close to the investigation tells KCRA 3 that in March, California was losing $3 million a month due to this fraud.
To add to the list of charges, Montoya said he received notification that there was a system error and the county deducted money that was stolen from his old card to his new debit card, which has left him overdrawn on benefits that never received.
KCRA 3 contacted DSS on Friday and gave the department until Monday afternoon to respond to what is happening with the “Golden State Advantage” cards. The department did not respond to our request for comment.