To dispute an EBT transaction in California, call the EBT Customer Service Helpline at 1-877-328-9677 right away to deactivate your card, then file a Report of Electronic Theft (Form EBT 2259) with your county social services office within 90 days of the theft. The county has ten business days to decide your claim and reload any approved replacement benefits onto your new card.
Deactivate Your Card First
The moment you see a charge you didn’t make, call 1-877-328-9677. The line runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Follow the voice prompts to report the card compromised, which shuts it down so no more transactions can clear. Any benefits still on the account stay safe and transfer to your replacement card.
Change your PIN immediately after. You can do this through the same phone line or through the ebtEDGE portal at ebt.ca.gov. Pick something that isn’t easy to guess, and don’t reuse the PIN that was just compromised.
Which Charges You Can Actually Dispute
California replaces benefits lost to electronic theft, meaning someone drained your account without physically taking your card. Two categories qualify:
- Skimming, where a hidden device on a card reader or ATM copies your card data and PIN.
- Scamming, where someone tricks you into giving up your card number and PIN, usually through a fake call, text, or email that pretends to be a government agency or the EBT vendor.
You need to have still had your physical card when the theft happened. If you handed your card and PIN to someone voluntarily, or your card itself was lost or stolen and then used, those losses generally don’t qualify.
Pull Your Transaction History
Before you fill anything out, identify every charge you don’t recognize. There are three ways to see your account activity:
- The ebtEDGE cardholder portal at ebt.ca.gov, or the ebtEDGE mobile app.
- The automated phone line at 1-877-328-9677, which will read back recent transactions.
- Your paper receipts, which show store name, amount, and remaining balance after each legitimate purchase.
Write down the date, amount, and location of every unauthorized transaction. You’ll need all of it for the claim form.
File Form EBT 2259 Within 90 Days
The Report of Electronic Theft, Form EBT 2259, is the required document for requesting replacement of CalFresh food benefits or CalWORKs cash aid lost to skimming or scamming. It asks when you discovered the theft, which type occurred, the details of each unauthorized transaction, and your signed declaration under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate.
You have 90 calendar days from the date of the theft to get the completed form to your county. Two ways to submit it:
- Online through your BenefitsCal account at BenefitsCal.com.
- In person at your county social services office, where staff are required to help you complete it if you need assistance.
If your claim involves cash aid stolen through scamming, you’ll also sign an additional acknowledgment called the EBT 2259A. That extra form isn’t required for food benefit claims.
How Much You Can Get Back
Replacement amounts depend on which program was hit.
CalFresh Food Benefits
You can be replaced for the lesser of the amount actually stolen or two months of your household’s most recent monthly CalFresh allotment. The cap is two replacements per federal fiscal year, which runs October 1 through September 30. Once you’ve used both, you’re done until the next fiscal year starts.
CalWORKs Cash Aid
For cash benefits stolen through scamming, you’re limited to one replacement in any 36-month period. If you already received a scamming-related cash replacement within the past three years, a new scamming claim will be denied. Skimming claims on cash aid aren’t subject to that 36-month restriction and get reviewed individually.
How Long the County Takes to Decide
Once your completed EBT 2259 arrives, the county has ten business days to process the claim and issue any approved replacement. If you’re filing a retroactive claim for a theft that happened earlier in the 90-day window, the county gets 30 business days.
The county can hold off on paying only if it believes the claim itself is fraudulent. An ordinary investigation into the theft doesn’t stop the clock. When the decision is made, you’ll receive a formal Notice of Action, and any approved benefits are loaded onto your new EBT card.
If the County Denies Your Claim
The Notice of Action will explain why the claim was denied. You have the right to appeal by requesting a State Hearing, which is an administrative proceeding before an independent judge. File the request within 90 days of the date the denial notice was mailed; past that, you’ll need to show good cause for the delay.
You can request a hearing three ways:
- Online through the Appeals Case Management System on the CDSS website.
- By phone at (800) 743-8525.
- In writing, using the hearing request section on the back of the denial notice, or by letter to the State Hearings Division at P.O. Box 944243, Mail Station 9-17-442, Sacramento, CA 94244-2430.
Bring your transaction history, a copy of your EBT 2259, and any correspondence from the county. If you need an interpreter, note your preferred language when you file the request and one will be arranged.
Protect the New Card
California issued chip-enabled EBT cards to all active cardholders between February and June 2025, replacing older magnetic-stripe cards that skimmers could copy more easily. If you got a new chip card, your old one stopped working 180 days after the new card was issued. At checkout, try the chip or tap feature first; if the retailer doesn’t support it yet, you’ll be prompted to swipe.
If a chip card never reached you, or you’ve moved, update your mailing address at BenefitsCal.com and request a new card. Beyond the hardware upgrade, a few habits matter. Cover the keypad when you enter your PIN. Never share your card number or PIN by phone or text, no matter who the caller claims to be. Check your transaction history through ebtEDGE on a regular schedule. Most EBT theft goes unnoticed for days or weeks because people only look at the balance when they try to buy groceries and find the money gone.