State issues new EBT chip cards to avoid fraud

San Diego County's CalFresh, CalWorks, and General Relief recipients will receive new security-enhanced benefit cards.

Approximately 405,000 county residents are eligible to use Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. The most common ways benefits are stolen with the existing cards are skimming and scamming. Nearly 23,000 thefts were reported last year in San Diego County and hundreds of thousands statewide.

The new chip and other enhanced security features make the cards much less accessible to thieves and more difficult to steal benefits or reprint and use a fraudulent card elsewhere.

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