SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — It’s a program meant to help parents feed their children during the summer months, but one San Diego mother said the money was taken from her SUN Bucks cards before they ever got a chance to use them.
According to California’s Department of Social Services, the SUN Bucks program works like CalFresh but during school breaks. For each child in a household, it provides $40 per month for food for June, July and August.
SUN Bucks is a new, permanent program in California,made available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The money can only be used for food.
Jessica Franks has three children, so she should have received $360 on three different cards.
“We were really looking forward to having the cards because normally the kids went to school, they had their breakfast and their lunch,” Franks said. “While they weren't in school, it's a little bit more difficult.”
When she tried to activate the cards, Franks noticed something was wrong.
“In the first one I went to go activate, there was a pause, and then it [said] $20,” she said. “I went to go activate my second child's card, and it said one cent.”
Franks said she spoke to a customer service representative who told her all three of her cards were used online at two different Walmart stores in Texas.
At first, she was optimistic she would get some type of reimbursement.
“I live in the state of California. I’ve never been to Texas,” Franks explained to the customer service representative. “That’s when she said this is a federal program and the money that was allotted is all that we have, so there's going to be no re-issue. My heart dropped, and I cried.”
She encourages people to use the online app for the money that is available.
“If you download the app, you can opt out of having your card used in another state and opt out of having your card used online. However, you do have to wait to receive the card, which is kind of difficult if someone's already used your child's card,” Franks said.
“You can freeze your card and then when you go and you use it, you can unfreeze it,” she added. “Unfortunately, there are people out there who are going to use these cards. And these are for your children, so protect them.”
It is still unclear how someone gained access to Franks’ cards.
A spokesperson for the USDA said the department “works closely with state and federal partners, law enforcement, SNAP/SUN Bucks retailers, EBT processors, and other industry experts to protect benefits and combat fraud.”
For specifics about the program in California, the USDA directed ABC 10News to contact the state’s Department of Social Services. A DSS spokesperson said they are working with partners to “monitor for, and investigate, potential theft attempts that are brought to our attention.”
When asked how much fraud was connected to the SUN Bucks program, the spokesperson responded, “While benefits are being issued quickly, Sun Bucks only recently launched and a dollar figure associated with confirmed theft is not available at this time.”
