The County of Orange Social Services Agency (SSA) is warning residents of a phone/texting scam that attempts to obtain cardholder information of CalWORKs, CalFresh, and General Relief clients throughout California.
The California Department of Social Services has received complaints from Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cardholders about receiving text messages and/or phone calls from scam phone number (858) 232-3581. Clients have been asked to provide personal information, including their EBT card number and PIN. Please be advised this is an attempt to gather information which may be used to withdraw funds from recipient accounts.
Note: the phone number above is NOT affiliated with SSA. Clients are advised to NOT give out their personal information. Please remember that SSA will never ask for your personal information (EBT card number, PIN, date of birth, and Social Security Number) in a text message or via email.
We have recently learned that some Orange County cardholders have been impacted by the scam and encourage clients to protect their personal information.
If you have called the phone number or responded to the text and provided personal information, it is recommended that you file a report with your local police department. You should also call the California EBT Customer Service Helpline at (877) 328-9677 and contact your assigned case worker.
The state of California successfully migrated to a new EBT vendor after a weekend cutover on 6/24/18 and the scheduled EBT outage is concluded.
