THIEVES DRAIN MILLIONS OFF CALFRESH AND CALWORKS RECIPIENTS’ CARDS, FAMILIES WAIT AND TAXPAYERS PAY

Jeanne Kuang CalMatters

The first time it happened to Courtney Abrams, hardly anyone believed her.

Someone had drained the more than $700 in cash aid and nearly $200 in food stamps from the electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card the 33-year-old single mother received from the state, just minutes after those monthly payments appeared in her account.

Abrams never got to spend a dime of it, though she hadn’t lost her card.

Abrams, a West Los Angeles College student, called the card company’s customer service line that day to dispute the mystery transactions. She got a replacement card from the county and filed a police report. It took a couple of weeks for money to be loaded onto her new card. She also changed the PIN.

That was last March. In September it happened again. This time it took a month to get her money back, she said.

In November it happened again. Now she changes her PIN every month, the night before she gets her benefits, hoping to outsmart the thieves.

“I was, like, maxing out credit cards, doing promise-to-pay, talking to my landlord, letting him know my money got stolen,” she said. “It was a lot of exposure … having to plead your case with these people in a situation that sounds kind of far-fetched.”

It’s not so far-fetched now. State and county officials say that a rash of thefts is wiping out the cash and food benefits from thousands of lowincome families’ electronic benefits cards in California and nationwide.

Millions gone

The thefts, which cost the state tens of millions of dollars to replace each year, have sent recipients scrambling to pay bills and household expenses, and flooding social service departments with reimbursement requests. The state proposes to upgrade the cards’ security features at a cost of $50 million in next year’s budget.

‘I feel that the EBT system was like the last place where things are so unsafe and so poor in terms of consumer protection.’

-LENA SILVER, AN ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AT NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL SERVICES OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

California uses EBT cards to deliver financial assistance for several programs, including CalFresh, which gives food aid to 2.8 million families a year and CalWORKs, which gives cash to more than 300,000 families a year. Smaller programs include assistance grants to refugees and immigrant crime victims.

Low-income Californians reported $29.7 million in cash welfare stolen and $4.7 million in food aid stolen in the 14 months from July 2021 through last September, the latest month for which statewide data was available, according to the Department of Social Services.

In CalWORKs, the theft amounted to less than $100,000 a month in mid-2021 and had risen to more than $4 million a month by last fall. The department is estimating an average of $6 million a month will be stolen this fiscal year, rising to $8 million a month in the year that begins in July, according to the California Department of Social Services budget documents.

What has been stolen in California so far amounts to a sliver of the total benefits California issued to all recipients — less than 1% of the cash benefits and less than a tenth of 1% of food aid.

Minutes to lose

Still, the amount of EBT theft has nearly doubled since 2019, budget documents state.

It’s not clear what has prompted a nationwide spike in benefits theft last year. The consequences are particularly acute in California, which provides more generous cash grants than many other states. Advocates say pandemic-era boosts in food aid also meant bigger losses than usual from recipients’ accounts.

Often the theft occurs minutes after the benefits are transferred to their cards.

It takes much longer to be made whole. Several recipients told CalMatters it took weeks, or even more than a month, to get benefits reimbursed amid the rising theft.

The state social services department in 2013 instructed counties to replenish money to victims within 10 days of a theft report, but exceptions meant to catch fraud can slow that process.

For example, if an aid recipient reports more than one theft within six months, social workers must flag their next claim for investigation.

Many recipients say they have been victims of theft more than once in recent months. Giovanna Roman, a Ventura County mother and community college student, said it happened to her three months in a row last year. She now receives her benefits through direct deposit, she said.

A vulnerability

One reason safety-net benefits are vulnerable to electronic theft, advocates say, is the cards have long lacked a security feature banks began putting on their credit and debit cards in late 2015 – security chips.

A chipped card doesn’t come in contact with hidden, illegal “skimming” devices, which are designed to copy information from the card’s strip.

To make purchases or withdraw money, EBT card users must swipe the cards’ magnetic strips.

A state public service video demonstrates how thieves can install skimming devices onto card readers to steal card numbers from the cards’ magnetic strips, and the thieves use hidden cameras to capture the cardholders entering their PINs.

The thieves can then create counterfeit cards to access the funds.

Until last June, the state’s EBT cards didn’t even include the three-digit “CVV” security codes typically on the back of credit and debit cards that banks use for an additional layer of fraud prevention.

The state added those codes, but the three months of data afterward show that benefits theft continued to rise, according to state figures.

Low-income Californians reported $29.7 million in cash welfare and $4.7 million in food aid stolen in 14 months.

-CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES

The state social services department is proposing to spend $76.5 million over the next three years to upgrade EBT cards with “enhanced security features,” according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal. Department spokesman Jason Montiel did not answer a question about whether that means chip cards specifically.

Advocates and — in a recent motion — the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors are urging the state to go that route.

Consumer standards

“To improve the security of the EBT system itself, so that people who rely on this very minimal food and cash assistance to survive, to bring their EBT system up to the same consumer standards that everyone else enjoys is the ultimate goalposts that we all need to be reaching for,” said Lena Silver, an associate director at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, which has been flooded with calls from clients whose benefits were stolen.

Silver pointed out that, in contrast to cards sent to poor Californians receiving assistance, the state intended to send chipped cards to the recipients of its tax refunds to relieve inflation and high gas prices last year.

“I feel that the EBT system was like the last place where things are so unsafe and so poor in terms of consumer protection,” Silver said.

The recently issued Middle Class Tax Refund cards were issued by a different department, the Franchise Tax Board. Spokesperson Andrew LePage said the agency chose its debit card vendor, Money Network, partly because it could provide some chipped cards.

Since October the board has sent out 9.4 million debit cards, though many of those were issued without chips due to supply chain shortages. The agency has received reports of fraud and theft of those benefits, too, but it won’t say how much or how many cards lacked chips.

LePage said the vendor reports the fraud rate is “well below” 1% of the money issued.

Taxpayers pay

While most of the benefits on EBT cards come from federal funds, California taxpayers foot the bill to reimburse victims of theft. California has reimbursed CalWorks recipients for stolen funds for years, and in November 2021 the state became the first to do the same for CalFresh food aid recipients, after advocates sued the state.

In December, Congress approved a spending bill allowing states to use federal funds to reimburse victims of food stamp theft that happened after Oct. 1, 2022.

Meanwhile, California is blocking suspicious EBT transactions, including ones made out-of-state, state officials told advocates in December.

The social services department also is helping counties process reimbursement claims more quickly, and “multiple investigations are ongoing,” Montiel said.

In September, Los Angeles prosecutors announced they charged 16 people in an alleged EBT fraud ring after they were caught with 300 cloned EBT cards, amounting to $400,000 in stolen benefits.

Contra Costa County prosecutors in December charged two men with burglary and theft after they were arrested with 50 fraudulent cards and card-skimming equipment.

Clearing hurdles

The state also plans to reduce the number of hurdles theft victims must clear to make a claim and get their benefits replaced. Cash welfare recipients previously had dispute transactions with the card company and file a police report before filling out a theft claim form with the county welfare department, which advocates said was burdensome for some clients.

The social services department in late January issued a new policy removing requirements to call the card company and file the police report, adding card theft victims are “strongly encouraged” to report the theft to police and prosecutors.

Abrams said she would feel more secure if the cards were chipped. Beyond all that, she wants to get her money back with less scrutiny. The numerous calls and rounds of paperwork she had to file made her feel like she was being accused of fraud, she said.

“If my bank card gets stolen and someone uses it, I don’t feel like a criminal, calling and saying, ‘Hey, my bank card was stolen, can you turn it off and reimburse me?’” she said. “They have protection against that thing specifically. It happens all the time.”

Q&A: MABEL CADENA AND THE HEROISM AND CULTURE OF BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

Arturo Hilario El Observador

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever takes place years after the original worldwide success and, for a sobering dose of reality, begins with the most recent Black Panther, T'Challa (the late Chadwick Boseman) succumbing to an unnamed disease off-screen.

It is up to the Wakandan community, especially his closest family and friends, to pick up the pieces and begin the painful process of moving on for the good of the country.

It's a film that advances the story of Wakanda but is very careful to remember the impact Chadwick Boseman had on the Black Panther character and the world he inhabited.

With the mourning of Wakanda, a new threat rises from the sea, the ancient Mesoamerican superhumans of a hidden city called Talokan, who are forced to the surface after a new technology threatens to expose their secret city to the world and all those who want to exploit their wealth and resources.

Just like when Wakanda was brought to life in the original Black Panther, Wakanda Forever counted upon cultural consultants who helped create a nation built on Mesoamerican and indigenous inspirations, from clothing and belief systems to the use of the Mayan language as dialogue in the film.

After its release in November 2022, the film received rave reviews that highlighted the new actors of the Marvel universe that brought to life the Mesoamerican underwater kingdom of Talokan.

We recently had the opportunity to speak with the Mexican actress Mabel Cadena, who plays Namora, the cousin and right-hand warrior of King Namor (Tenoch Huerta).

In the interview, Cadena spoke about the experience of working on such an extensive project, reflecting on the film's release, the feedback from loved ones and fans and what it was like to represent Latinos in a Marvel blockbuster with parallels to the real Mesoamerican culture.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now streaming on Disney+ and available to purchase on Blu-ray/ digital.

To start with, since the movie came out, what has been the feedback you've received from friends, family, fans? And are there any surprising opinions or perspectives?

Jeez, I think that everything has been surprising and everything has been too much. I don't really know what the right word is, because I think that in relation to my family we have experienced something where none of us expected something like this to happen in my life. So it has been embracing something super cute and at the same time growing and learning with the experience. And on the other hand, for me it has been like beautiful to be able to take part on this.

I've talked to people, well, many times, but the way I've connected with the fans of this film has been unique.

I have never, ever talked to people who have so much truth in their eyes and in their words and move so many things and who connect so many things in their stories from the film that we made. So that has been super special to me and what they share with me has been overwhelming in a beautiful way because you never think that a movie like this can connect so personally with people.

And what was it like to represent the Latino culture in a Marvel movie of this caliber?

Well, the truth is that it is a super shocking experience at first and then it becomes something beautiful, it becomes something that really moves you because you feel part of something bigger than a superhero movie, you know. When I saw the movie for the first time, I suddenly said "Wow!" I never ever imagined hearing an indigenous language like Maya in a movie of this dimension, not with such a leading role, with such a strong presence in the ears, because Maya is never, ever dubbed.

Six languages are spoken in the film, there is a diversity of faces, of colors. Suddenly you see small gestures of our culture represented that become part of a new Talokan culture that really gives you an opportunity to take stories you grew up with and turn them into a fantastic new story. Not part of a fictional universe, but just as beautiful, just as powerful, with a lot of dignity, with a lot of strength, with a culture of which you feel proud to be a part of.

And finally, thanks again Mabel, for those who haven't seen the movie yet, why would you recommend them to watch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever?

Because I think that suddenly it is very nice to connect with our stories, with our children, with our emotion, with our illusion. Suddenly it's really nice to see yourself, to see ourselves, to see different faces in a film like this. The truth is that Black Panther is a film full of creation in terms of costumes, makeup. There is a level of professionalism in each of the areas that I think makes our film a great film, a worthy film, a film full of emotion, of humanity, it humanizes each of these characters.

They are no longer just superheroes, they are humans who are trying to take care of their land, to take care of their people, to dignify their origins and I think that lives in each one of us, regardless of where we come from, right?

I have always said that both Wakanda and Talokan, despite the fact that we have completely different histories, are moved by the same feeling, the same thought. And that means that in the end the film can have an outcome like the one it has.

So if you want to see that outcome, then watch it!

Q&A: MABEL CADENA Y EL HEROÍSMO Y LA CULTURA DE BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

Arturo Hilario El Observador

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever tiene lugar años después del éxito internacional original y, como una dosis aleccionadora de realidad, comienza con el Black Panther más reciente, T'Challa (el difunto Chadwick Boseman) sucumbiendo a una enfermedad sin nombre fuera de la pantalla.

Depende de la comunidad de Wakanda, especialmente de su familia y amigos más cercanos, recoger los pedazos y comenzar el doloroso proceso de seguir adelante por el bien del país.

Es una película que avanza la historia de Wakanda pero tiene mucho cuidado en recordar el impacto que tuvo Chadwick Boseman en el personaje de Black Panther y el mundo que habitaba.

Con el luto de Wakanda, una nueva amenaza emerge del mar, los antiguos superhumanos mesoamericanos de una ciudad oculta llamada Talokan, que se ven obligados a salir a la superficie después de que una nueva tecnología amenaza con exponer su ciudad secreta al mundo, y a todos aquellos. que quieran explotar sus riquezas y recursos.

Al igual que cuando se dio vida a Wakanda en la Pantera Negra original, Wakanda Forever contó con consultores culturales que ayudaron a crear una nación construida a partir de inspiraciones mesoamericanas e indígenas, desde la vestimenta, los sistemas de creencias hasta el uso del idioma maya como diálogo en la película.

Después de su estreno en noviembre de 2022, la película recibió críticas muy favorables que pusieron de relieve a los nuevos actores del universo Marvel que dieron vida al reino subacuático mesoamericano de Talokan.

Recientemente tuvimos la oportunidad de hablar con la actriz mexicana Mabel Cadena, quien interpreta a Namora, la prima y mano derecha guerrera del Rey Namor (Tenoch Huerta).

En la entrevista, Cadena habló sobre la experiencia de trabajar en un proyecto tan extenso, reflexionando sobre el lanzamiento de la película, los comentarios de sus seres queridos y fanáticos, y cómo fue representar a los latinos en un éxito de taquilla de Marvel con paralelismos con la cultura mesoamericana real.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ahora se transmite en Disney+ y está disponible para su compra en Blu-ray/digital.

Para empezar, desde que ha salido la película, ¿cuál ha sido el feedback que has recibido de los amigos, de la familia, de los fans? Y hay alguna opinión o perspectiva sorprendente?

Híjole, creo que todo ha sido sorprendente y todo ha sido demasiado. No sé bien cuál es la palabra adecuada, porque creo que con relación a mi familia hemos vivido una cosa en donde ninguno de nosotros esperábamos que ocurriera algo así en mi vida. Entonces ha sido abrazar algo como súper lindo y al mismo tiempo ir creciendo y aprendiendo con la experiencia. Y por otro lado, para mí ha sido como bellísimo poder participar en esto. He hablado con personas, pues muchas veces, pero la forma en la que he conectado con los fans de esta película ha sido particular. Nunca, nunca he hablado con gente que tenga tanta verdad en sus ojos y en sus palabras y le mueva tantas cosas y conecte tantas cosas en sus historias de la película que hicimos. Entonces eso ha sido súper especial para mí y lo que comparten ellos conmigo ha sido abrumador en un sentido bello porque jamás piensas que una película como esta pueda conectar de forma tan personal con las personas.

¿Y cómo fue representar la cultura latina en una película de en una película Marvel de este calibre?

Pues la verdad es que es una experiencia super shockeante al principio y después se convierte en algo bello, se convierte en una cosa que realmente te conmueve porque te sientes parte de algo más grande que una película de superhéroes sabes. Cuando yo vi la película por primera vez, de pronto dije "Wow!" Nunca jamás imaginé escuchar una lengua indígena como lo es el Maya en una película de esta dimensión, no con un rol tan protagónico, con una presencia tan fuerte en los oídos, porque nunca, nunca se dobla el maya.

Se hablan seis idiomas en la película hay una diversidad de rostros, de colores. De pronto ves representadas pequeños gestos de nuestra cultura que se vuelven parte de una nueva cultura de Talokan que la verdad da la oportunidad de tomar historias con las que creciste para convertirla en una nueva historia fantástica. No parte de un universo ficticio, pero igual de bello, igual de potente, con mucha dignidad, con mucha fuerza, con una cultura de la que te sientes orgullosa de ser parte.

Y finalmente, muchas gracias de nuevo, Mabel, para los que no han visto la película todavía, ¿por qué les recomendaría que vieran Black Panther: Wakanda Forever? Porque creo que de pronto es bien bonito conectar con nuestras historias, con nuestros niños, con nuestra emoción, con nuestra ilusión. De pronto es bien bonito verse, vernos, ver diferentes rostros en una película como ésta.

La verdad es que Black Panther es una película llena de creación en cuanto a vestuario, maquillaje. Hay un nivel de profesionalismo en cada una de las áreas que creo que hacen de nuestra película una gran película, una película digna, una película llena de emoción, de humanidad, humaniza a cada uno de estos personajes.

Ya no son solamente superhéroes, son humanos que están tratando de cuidar a su tierra, de cuidar a su gente, de dignificar sus orígenes y creo que eso habita en cada uno de nosotros, sin importar de donde vengamos no?

Siempre he dicho que tanto Wakanda como Talokan, a pesar de que tenemos historias completamente diferentes, nos mueve un mismo sentimiento, un mismo pensamiento. Y eso hace que al final la película pueda tener un desenlace como el que tiene.

Así que si quieren ver ese desenlace, ¡pues véanla!

EARTHTALK Q&A: CAUSA DE LA MALARIA EN LATINOAMÉRICA

Estimado EarthTalk: ¿Qué está causando el aumento de casos de malaria en Latinoamérica? ¿Es posible que la enfermedad resurja en Estados Unidos? -- M. Simon, Braintree, MA

Roddy Scheer & Doug Moss EarthTalk

Lamalaria es una enfermad tropical que puede causar fiebre alta, temblores y síntomas feos parecidos a los de un resfrío. A veces puede ser fatal, pero hay varios tratamientos. Se esparce por parásitos que pueden vivir en mosquitos, por lo cual, si un mosquito se alimenta de sangre de un humano infectado, puede llevar el parásito a otra persona cuando tome sangre de alguien más.

La malaria es un problema serio fuera de Estados Unidos, especialmente desde que la pandemia de COVID-19 interrumpió tratamientos, prevención y financiación. Es un problema eterno en gran parte de África porque la temperatura permite la transmisión durante todo el año. Recientemente hubo un resurgimiento en Pakistán a causa de inundaciones. En Latinoamérica, el repunte se asocia a la pérdida de anfibios, lo cual significa que hay menos animales que se coman las larvas de mosquitos y por lo tanto hay más mosquitos que esparcen los parásitos de malaria.

Esto ocurrió porque en los ’80, un hongo que causa la enfermedad quitrimiodicosis en anfibios se expandió por toda la región. Esta enfermedad causa que la piel se engrose, lo cual puede ser devastador porque algunos anfibios absorben agua a través de su piel en vez de beberla. De hecho, esta enfermedad se ha vinculado con la extinción de más de 200 especies alrededor del mundo. Sin darnos cuenta, los humanos la esparcieron más, y está presente en todos los continentes excepto la Antártida. Se ha confirmado en Estados Unidos, especialmente en la costa este, pero sólo comenzó a tener impacto en los ’90, 10 años después de que las extinciones comenzaran en Latinoamérica, por lo cual no es probable que de momento tenga algún efecto en los niveles de malaria en Estados Unidos.

Estados Unidos acabó con la transmisión de malaria en 1951 y así se ha mantenido desde entonces. Esto se logró con insecticidas, mejores drenajes, y la eliminación de sitios de reproducción de mosquitos. Hoy en día, los casos en Estados Unidos suelen reducirse a personas que viajaron a lugares donde la enfermedad está presente sin haber utilizado drogas contra la malaria, o que inmigraron de esas áreas. Los Centros para Control y Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC) juntan reportes de casos para su sistema de vigilancia de la malaria, y trabajan dentro del país para tratamientos y prevención. Los CDC también recomiendan cuatro estrategias frente a la malaria: redes para mosquitos con insecticidas, tratamiento preventivo en mujeres embarazadas y niños, y el uso de insecti- cidas en interiores. De momento, éstos no son necesarios en Estados Unidos, pero se usarían si hubiera un resurgimiento de la enfermedad. Sin embargo, Estados Unidos aporta muchos recursos para prevenir esto, y es el gobierno donante más grande para los esfuerzos globales frente a la malaria.

También hay esperanzas para combatir la malaria en el futuro. Puede que desarrollos nuevos como la extinción de los anfibios le den ventaja a la enfermedad, pero los científicos siguen creando soluciones. En África están aumentando los programas contra la malaria, lo cual significa que la enfermedad que llega al resto del mundo por inmigrantes y viajeros se esparcirá menos. Los científicos también diseñaron mosquitos que son menos hospitalarios para el parásito de la malaria, y por lo tanto esparcirán menos la enfermedad. Además, aunque de momento no hay una vacuna para la malaria, investigadores de Inglaterra tienen muy buenos resultados y puede llegar a ser aprobada durante 2023.

CONTACTS: Mosquitoes that can't spread malaria engineered by scientists, sciencedaily. com/releases/2022/09/220921141449.htm; The President’s Malaria Initiative and Other U.S. Government Global Malaria Efforts, kff.org/globalhealth-policy/fact-sheet/the-u-s-governmentand-global-malaria/; Chytridiomycosis, cwhl. vet.cornell.edu/system/files/public/cwhl-factsheets-bd.pdf.

EarthTalk® es producido por Roddy Scheer & Doug Moss para la organización sin fines de lucro 501©3, EarthTalk. Vea más en https:// emagazine.com. Para donaciones, visite https// earthtalk.org. Envíe sus preguntas a: question@ earthtalk.org.