MACON, Bibb County — Families around Macon-Bibb contacted 13WMAZ, claiming they are victims of suspected fraud. They're showing us the receipts to prove what they lost.
They all told us they never had any problems receiving their SNAP benefits until the past week or so.
Now, it's the talk of the town.
"We're spending our bill funds on eating funds," Asia Mosley said.
Mosely is a mother of four: 7, 8, 9 and 11. Three of her sons are football players, "and they need to eat," she said.
"It's not fair; life is hard right now, and we need every bit of support we can get," M'Shuandri Ralls said.
All the families we spoke to explained how they are on edge.
One mother said she feared she might encounter a problem because she'd seen social media posts about stolen EBT credits.
"I kept checking my card over and over, and I was like,' OK, I'm safe; my money's still on there,'" she said.
Christeva Thompson told us she had some credits left over from last month that was supposed to remain on her card.
She showed us the receipts for her card transactions; on Friday, Oct. 11, she received a deposit of $739.
That day, she explained, "I went to the grocery store, but something said check it again. It said 2 cents. I'm like it's supposed to be $1,100 on here-- I just got a deposit."
"It's nothing that nobody can do," Sade Washington said. "You just literally have to be in the grocery store or actively checking your card before you're able to realize that all your benefits are gone."
That's precisely what happened to her on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
Washington told us she received her deposit sometime after midnight. When she woke up, she said her balance was correct, so she went to the grocery store around 9.
It wasn't until she was checking her groceries out that she realized her credits had been stolen because her card had declined.
Mosley said she received $1,158 on Sunday, Oct. 13, at 2 a.m.; it was taken off her card at 5 a.m., leaving her with 39 cents.
"I can't do nothing with 39 cents," she said.
Not only are these credits stolen from mothers, but every receipt we saw showed transactions made in New York.
"All of them are from New York, the Bronx, Brooklyn," Washington said.
Mosley said she'd never been to New York a day in her life, but this incident made her want to go and investigate what was happening.
All these mothers are facing the same problem: suspected fraud.
They told us they've been contacting the Department of Human Services since they noticed the issue through the EBT app, by phone, email, and even going to the Macon-Bibb offices in downtown, but they're all redirected to fill out paperwork about their fraud claims with no immediate action.
"I should not have to reach out to anybody," Washington said. "If [DHS] knows this is an issue, there should be some type of insurance or some type of fallback set in place. So that way people don't have to reach out. The 'reach out' was us reaching out to you to say, 'Hey, we need help!'"
Ralls said she moved from Forsyth to Macon over the summer and had to requalify in August for EBT credits. She said she had no issues that month or September; this is the first time she's dealt with something like this.
"I never had an issue with the Forsyth office," Ralls said. "I don't know if it's just this office or if it's all DFACS workers because they're all working from home."
The people we spoke to told us that one excuse they keep hearing for the delay in action is that DHS employees work from home.
"They're not working from home if the situation isn't seen," Mosley said.
"I never hear back," Ralls said. "I keep calling. When you come down to the DFACs office, all they say is you just gotta keep calling, keep calling."
"This is sad," Mosely said.
"Do better," Washington said. "Do better."
We contacted the state agency about the concerns we heard. On Monday, the offices were closed; after we made several requests, they told us no one was available for interviews this week.
Director Ellen Brown told us Georgia SNAP EBT cards can be used in other states at approved retailers.
We inquired about how many reports of scams or fraud they received this month; they did not respond in time for this report.
Brown told us, "Georgians who think they've been the victim of a phishing scam involving their public benefits should contact the DHS Office of Inspector General at inspectorgeneralhotline@dhs.ga.gov or 877-423-4746, option 4."