Four people who allegedly took part in the theft of public assistance benefits from low-income California families have been arrested and face federal prosecution in San Diego, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
Prosecutors say the recently arrested defendants are part of an ongoing spike in benefits thefts from people with compromised EBT accounts.
More than 52 people have been charged in San Diego since 2023 for stealing CalWORKS benefits, which the U.S. Attorney’s Office said resulted in losses of at least $4 million from hundreds of California victims.
Prosecutors say that through the use of card skimmers, victims’ EBT account information is stolen, re-encoded onto “cloned” cards, and their account money then withdrawn at ATMs in the pre-dawn hours before funds are disbursed from the state.
Last week, Razvan Balu, Juan Trandafir, Hassib Baraekzay, and Veronica Ochoa, were arrested.
Prosecutors say Balu attempted to take $196,650 from victims’ accounts and was able to make off with $159,990. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Balu obtained the account information from 210 victims living in San Diego, Fresno, Los Angeles, Kern, Kings, and Tulare counties, then used those accounts to withdraw funds from ATMs in Los Angeles County.
Trandafir allegedly stole $145,250, and attempted to take $169,670 from 181 victims. A criminal complaint states that he committed fraudulent EBT withdrawals at ATMs throughout San Diego County, including in San Diego, Chula Vista, Lemon Grove, Fallbrook, Oceanside, San Marcos, and Escondido.
Baraekzay is accusing of taking over $25,000 from 43 victims by fraudulently withdrawing their funds at San Diego County ATMs, while Ochoa allegedly withdrew over $22,000 from 27 victims by using their information at San Diego County ATMs.
San Diego U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said in a statement, “These criminals target people living one paycheck away from crisis. Exploiting that vulnerability is as cruel as it is criminal.”
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