SAN DIEGO — Cynthia and Fernando Medina, a couple in Chula Vista, say they have been living a nightmare.
Several weeks ago, Medina went to the grocery store and purchased food items for her four girls and her husband Fernando–using her Electronic Benefit Transfer debit card.
“I just want this nightmare to end, I just want the county to see that this is not a game, this is not a joke,” said Medina.
The family has started a Go Fund Me Account
Except, when she came home and checked her account, Cynthia noticed every single dime in her account had been withdrawn, in mission valley, leaving her family with only 91 cents to feed her family for the next month.
“All these things just start rolling through your head as a mom you start thinking what am I going to feed them, what am I going to change them with? How am I going to take my kids to school, how am I going to go to work,” said Medina.
The Medina’s say they believe the suspect might have cloned the debit card at the last grocery store she visited.
“It had to be with the cashier, it had to be a camera because it had an out pin,” said Fernando.
The Chula Vista Police Department says they are dealing with over 50 active cases that involve EBT scams.
In recent months, police have even noticed an increase in EBT theft.
“We learned that, if we would've taken last year's total number of services that we had related to this, it was 23. Compared to right now we have 164 calls for service, so far this year. We are getting to the end of this year but that’s still an alarming number,” said Anthony Molina, a public information officer for the Chula Vista Police Department.
The family says Chula Vista police took five days to file a police report because of the high number of cases they are receiving.
That report was needed to start their case with the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency to help return their benefits, but now the county is saying it will take 25 days.
That's 25 days where Medina will have to figure out how to feed her family with no money in her bank account.
The family has been getting help from family members, but wants to alert others families about this.
CBS 8 also reached out to the San Diego County Health and Human Services agency but have not responded to our request for an interview.