By Morgan Rynor<\/p>\n
Original article can be found at this link<\/a><\/p>\n SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 People up and down California are writing in saying that their inflation relief debit cards\u00a0<\/a>have been drained of money.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The state has issued over 8 million debit cards so far, and is still sending out cards through January 14 to eligible Californians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It was the beginning of 2022 when Governor Newsom first announced he wanted to do a tax refund.<\/p>\n fter much negotiating with state lawmakers, this was the agreement that they came to: people would be getting either direct deposits or debit cards depending on how they filed their taxes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Roxane Martinez and her husband got $700 in the form of a debit card. The first thing the Crow\u2019s Landing couple did was pay for their updated car registration with the DMV<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThen I just put it down for a few days,” Martinez said, “And I went to use it again, it got denied at two different places.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The remaining $500 was gone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cYou’re supposed to only be able to use a pin to use it, and they used mine without a pin,” she said. “They used it without it even being out of my possession.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Maryan Gonnerman received $350 from the state on her debit card. She used it to buy a quick lunch at work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI logged in, and I saw that it had $5 left on it,” Gonnerman said. “I was like hmmmm.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Her dad, who lives in Point Loma, used to be the chief financial officer for a local bank.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI suspect somebody basically invaded the card issuer,” John Gonnerman said, “because to use a debit card versus credit, you need to have a pin number, and so somehow, they’ve got the pin number registry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Maryan likened California to a sad relative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThey’re like a sad relative that like keeps getting in trouble, and you’re like, ‘why did you do this to yourself? You knew that person wasn’t trustworthy, but you still gave them a contract to do this’,” Maryan said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Republican Assemblymember Jim Patterson represents Fresno. He said his constituents have been contacting his office with similar issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cUnfortunately, when we try to reach the Franchise Tax Board, and then when we try to reach the vendor, the Money Network, we are not even getting responses,” Patterson said. “if I can’t reach them, my goodness, our constituents are going to have a hard time reaching them.\u201d<\/p>\n As Vice Chair of the Oversight Committee, Patterson is comparing this to how the state handled the EDD unemployment fraud.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHere we go again,” Patterson said. “It is almost like their business plan includes the acceptance of a certain amount of fraud. I can’t understand why we repeat the same kind of failure to our constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Republican Assemblymember Laurie Davies said her office was contacted about the issue too. She sent a statement saying, in part, that the “administration sent rebates via debit cards to Californians \u2013 cards without security chips that now have been pilfered by thieves. It\u2019s appalling, and it adds insult to injury to Californians dealing with record high costs of living as they waited months for relief only to receive empty debit cards in the mail right before the holidays.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Franchise Tax Board said they anticipate the possibility of malfunctions, fraud, or other wrongdoing, and they continue to keep a close eye on the situation. The Board says this is not a big issue right now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “Under the terms of the contract, the program is expected to run with less than a 1% fraud rate considering the defense strategies put in place,” a spokesperson said. “To date, the program is running far below that metric.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Board says if this happens to you, you “should report it immediately by calling Money Network at 800-240-0223. This is imperative because it begins the fraud investigation and resolution process.”<\/p>\nPeople across the state are saying once they activate their card, they find the remaining balance empty<\/h4>\n
The Board sent a list of key points to share:<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Here are some tips for avoiding debit card fraud:<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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