Rommel H. Ojeda reports:
On December 3rd, Stephanie, a Chinese immigrant and resident of Nassau County, was skeptical about using the ATM at her 7/11 in Garden City. She had seen warnings in the news about credit card skimming that had taken place in New York City. She inspected the ATM with scrutiny, looking for any signs of tampering, and, once it seemed all clear, inserted her Excluded Workers Fund debit card and withdrew $400. It was the first time she had withdrawn money from the account, and it would also be her last.
Stephanie, 35, who decided to use an alias, is one of numerous Excluded Workers Fund recipients whose disputes of unauthorized transactions have been denied after they filed reports of credit card skimming.
[…]
In December, the $2.1 billion Excluded Workers Fund was distributed across the state on debit cards by a company called Blackhawk. Almost immediately, New Yorkers began reporting that money was disappearing from their accounts and people were making fraudulent purchases online and at stores they never visited. In a story published last week, Documented detailed this wave of thefts. Shortly after, EWF recipients who have had their money stolen began reaching out.
Read more at Documented.