As of today more than $280,000 EBT benefits have been taken/stolen from Maryland Families in need and countless others in other states. This have left many families facing evictions, unnecessary late/court fees, and children hungry. 

The Maryland DHS is not willing to replace the stolen benefits. They stated that the federal regulations won't allow it, but yet other states like D.C have found a way and is replacing the stolen benefits.

When I went into the local office the lady didn't offer much help. She just told me to go to another office and get a new card but that I would need to have a police report. I ask was I to do and she said that DHS wouldn't be replacing my benefits as there have been alot of fraud cases going on.

You can apply for other types of assistance, and ask local churches or charities for help. But in order to qualify you must have a pending eviction or pending utility shut off notice, and the process takes weeks and is not guaranteed, so you could be waiting for nothing.

The only option that Marylanders have at the moment is to risk our safety by getting to ATMs in the middle of the night well exactly at 12:01, to be able to get our cash benefits off our cards before the thieves do and finding a 24 hour store to buy food for our families or order online to have our groceries delivered the next day. It has become a race to the ATM to provide and for survival.

How is our safety being compromised you may ask?

Not everyone have the means of transportation and we could be faced with the difficult decision of waiting till morning to wake up to having our funds stolen. Risk becoming homeless and not having food to give our children.

Risk going to the store in middle of the night and walking to an ATM to get the cash benefit and potentially getting robbed, and/or hurt in the process.

Thieves know when the EBT benefits come on the cards. They could be on the lookout for those dates and anyone walking up to the ATM at Midnight, wait for them to make the withdrawal and rob them.

Here in Maryland the Providers App where you can see your EBT benefits information, provides a debit card that you can get free of charge, which funds are FDIC insured up to $250,000. Why can't we get our cash benefits loaded into that card, that way they are more secure and insured?

By not replacing our stolen benefits you are forcing families into a difficult, unnecessary financial hardship. Missing one months rent,electric, day care, what ever bill it may be, will have us playing catch up for the next few months to come due to the late fees and/or other fees added by missing a payment or not paying on time. Being on an strict budget  and missing payments would make a hard situation even worse.

Something needs to be done about this on-going growing issue. There are cameras inside and outside of the ATMs, where these alleged thieves are stealing from. How come nothing has been done. The thefts have triple in less than a year.

We are getting punished for something that was out of our hands and no fault of our own. State/Federal benefits should've never been unsecured. While we are struggling, with our hands tied, not knowing if next month we will get our benefits, the thieves are enjoying themselves probably laughing at the system and thinking that they'll never get caught.

Please DHS,DSS,DHH and our Maryland Government don't fail us. We need our Government now more than ever. Please find a solution to be able to replace and secure our much needed benefits. We qualify for a reason. Our children are hungry, our families are hurting. Don't desert us.

Benefit fraud is a nationwide problem, not just a Maryland problem. Change starts with you, so Projects one's voice. 

 

 

 

Larry Hogan Governor  Lourdes R. Padilla, Secretary, Maryland Department of Human Services Gregory Wm. Branch, M.D., MBA, CPE.