EBT scams brazen in Los Angeles County

Brian Krebs talked about the EBT scams and he wrote two articles on it.

The post says:

BrianKrebs: Terrific reporting by Rebecca Ellis at The Los Angeles Times on the scope of the card skimming fraud targeting people who receive state food and other financial assistance via debit cards (a.k.a Electronic Benefits Cards or EBTs).

The story makes clear again that the organized crime groups involved will wait until funds are deposited by the state onto these EBT cards. That happens early in the morning, and the fraudsters are hitting the ATMs with the cloned EBT cards just as soon as the funds are there.

From the story:

“Skyrocketing theft amounts
In 2019, Los Angeles County saw $25,227 in EBT benefits stolen, according to the Department of Public Social Services. In 2020, $340,891 was taken. In 2021, the number began to skyrocket: $914,003 was stolen, most of it in the last few months of the year.”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-08/ebt-fraud-la-county

I covered EBT skimming in a couple of recent posts:

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/10/how-card-skimming-disproportionally-affects-those-most-in-need/
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/11/lawsuit-seeks-food-benefits-stolen-by-skimmers/

For links to his articles, search EBT on the blog and you’ll find them.

The article is titled Brazen food stamp scammers steal millions from L.A.’s poorest. ‘They’re hemorrhaging money’ and it comes from the Los Angeles Times. The raw link is above within the quoted post.

Van Nuys is not necessarily too far from me and neither is Sherman Oaks. I would read Brian’s articles again, listen to the podcast that we did on EBT cards, and read this 10 minute article. You’ll be thankful if you are affected by this.

While arrests were made in recent times, it isn’t going to solve the overall problem. As the article states, several of the suspects split town and went to Romania. Then they came back and tried for more.

What do you guys think of this latest development? Want to discuss it? Join our email list or send me an email! The boards await you. Enjoy!