CalFresh EBT funds disappeared at 6am - anyone else dealing with this theft issue?

this happened to me too!! they took $345 from my account and said it was cuz of "duplicate issuance" whatever that means. but i NEVER got duplicate benefits!! been waiting almost a month for them to fix it. nobody at the county answers the phone ughhh

I work with CalFresh advocacy and can clarify what's happening. There was a statewide system update last month that incorrectly flagged some accounts for duplicate issuance. This affected approximately 7-8% of beneficiaries. The county offices are working through these cases, but they're severely backlogged. Regarding tomorrow at 6am - there IS scheduled maintenance, but it shouldn't affect your benefits. The system will be offline for about 3 hours (6am-9am), but your benefits will still be there when it comes back online. To resolve your specific situation, you need to request an "Administrative Hearing" for benefit restoration. The county has 30 days to resolve these issues, which is why many people are still waiting from last month's error.

they just be stealin our money anyway they can smh... happened to my cousin too and she got 5 kids to feed. government don't care bout us fr. they say "technical issues" but sure seems convenient they having these "issues" right when rent due and prices going up everywhere 🙄

This sounds very stressful, and I understand your concern. When benefits vanish like this, it's important to document everything. Here's what you should do: 1. Take screenshots of your EBT account showing the missing benefits 2. Call the EBT Customer Service number (not the county office) at 1-877-328-9677 and request a transaction history 3. File a formal complaint through the state portal at BenefitsCal.com 4. Request an Administrative Hearing specifically for "improper benefit reduction without notice" By law, they must schedule your hearing within 10 days for emergency food assistance cases. Bring your documentation, and they may issue emergency benefits while they investigate. The system maintenance tomorrow is normal and happens monthly, but your current benefits should not be affected.

I went through something similar in January. The issue is that the new CalFresh processing system they installed in 2024 has major bugs that they still haven't fixed. The only way I got my missing benefits back was by having someone call on my behalf using Claimyr.com - it got me through to an actual person at the county after weeks of trying. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8 Once I actually spoke to a worker, they fixed it in 3 days and retroactively added my benefits. But I wasted almost 3 weeks trying to get through on my own before discovering this service.

I'm a CalFresh eligibility worker (not posting my county for obvious reasons). The issue you're describing was a statewide database synchronization problem that affected about 22,000 recipients. Your benefits weren't "stolen" - they were incorrectly flagged by an automated audit system. The good news: All affected accounts have been identified and are being manually reviewed. The bad news: Each case has to be manually corrected by a worker, and we're severely understaffed. The scheduled maintenance tomorrow is normal monthly maintenance and won't cause any new problems. Your benefits should be restored within the next 7 business days as we're processing the backlog in batches based on case numbers. If you haven't received your benefits by next Friday, you should request an expedited resolution by specifically mentioning "statewide database synchronization error code CF-2025-113" when you call. This will flag your case for priority review.

on a similar note has anyone else noticed their income reporting thresholds changed on their last SAR7? mine went from needing to report a $200 change to now having to report any change over $100. seems like they making it easier to cut people off by having us report smaller changes 🧐

UPDATE: Good news everyone! I just checked my account and my missing benefits from last month were FINALLY added back! They also added an extra $30 (not sure why but I'm not complaining lol). So if you're still missing benefits from last month, maybe check your account today! Seems like they're fixing the issues gradually. Still nervous about tomorrow's "maintenance" but feeling better knowing they actually did fix mine eventually.