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THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I ALWAYS WITHDRAW ALL MY BENEFITS AS SOON AS THEY HIT MY ACCOUNT!!!!! The system doesn't protect us AT ALL. I take out all my cash benefits on the 1st and I use my CalFresh benefits to buy grocery store gift cards for later in the month. They can't steal what's not on the card!!!! The county worker told me not to do this but it's the ONLY way to be safe. They don't care about us!!!
Just a careful note here - purchasing gift cards with CalFresh benefits is actually not permitted under program rules. This could potentially lead to benefit violations. A better approach is to use the new EBT Edge mobile app to freeze/unfreeze your card between uses and change your PIN regularly.
UPDATE: I finally got through to my county worker today! Filed the police report yesterday and submitted all the paperwork. They said they'll expedite my case because I have children in the household and should have the benefits replaced within 5 business days. In the meantime, we got emergency food from two local food banks. Thanks everyone for your help and advice during this stressful time! Will keep you posted on how it all turns out.
Did your worker tell you how long the review would take after you fixed the form? When this happened to me they never gave me a straight answer and I ended up having to borrow money from family to avoid utilities being shut off. The worst part was they eventually replaced my benefits but by then I was already in debt to everyone I know. It's so unfair that we get punished for something that wasn't our fault.
also check with local food banks!! they often have emergency assistance for people waiting on calfresh benefits. saved me when mine were stolen
my sister works for the county and she says they're SUPER behind on processing right now because of the new system update. she said most applications r taking the full 30 days
UPDATE: I tried that Claimyr service someone mentioned and it actually worked! Got through to a person at LA County within 40 minutes (after trying for DAYS on my own). Turns out they needed my latest pay stub but the notice got lost in the mail. I uploaded it directly while on the phone and the worker said my application should be processed within 48 hours. Thanks everyone for the help and suggestions!
Has anyone heard of class action lawsuit?? I'm seeing this happen to SO MANY people now with EBT cards and the state isn't doing enough to protect us! These cards don't even have chip technology! My friend who works at a bank said they have WAY better fraud protection on regular debit cards than we get on EBT. It's discrimination against poor people if you ask me!!! We deserve the same protection as everyone else!!!
FINAL UPDATE: It took almost 4 weeks, but I finally got my benefits back today! They refunded the full $785 after completing their investigation. The worker said they confirmed it was fraud based on the transaction location and the fact that multiple other people had their cards compromised at the same store. For anyone else this happens to - keep calling and checking the status of your claim weekly. I had to submit the police report and a written statement about where I was when the transactions happened. So relieved this is finally resolved. Thank you all for your help and support through this nightmare!
That's great news! I'm glad they restored your benefits. For future protection, remember to: 1. Change your PIN regularly 2. Check your balance frequently 3. Set up transaction alerts 4. Only use your card at major grocery stores 5. Cover the keypad when entering your PIN Unfortunately, EBT theft is becoming more common, but the counties are getting better at resolving these cases as they learn more about the patterns.
Anastasia Kozlov
Hey did anybody else notice that the benefit amounts went up in January? My regular CalFresh went from $349 to $379 for my household of 2 and nobody told me it was increasing! Just randomly got more money lol
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Omar Zaki
•Yeah there was a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2025 that raised benefit amounts by about 8%. They usually don't make a big announcement about it, it just happens automatically each year.
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Isabella Oliveira
Update: My Restaurant Meals Program benefits just loaded this morning! It was delayed by about 24 hours compared to usual. Thanks everyone for helping me understand what was going on. The county should really explain these things better instead of making us figure it out ourselves!
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Ravi Patel
•mine too! just checked and its there. thx for the update
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