WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Imagine you’re at the grocery store checkout line, you go to swipe your card, and it gets declined.

Some Bay area residents with SNAP benefits say that has been happening to them.

What You Need To Know

  • Residents reporting having their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits stolen

  • A Polk County woman says her money was stolen in early December and that a claim was filed

  • The Florida Department of Children and Families says residents can report theft on their website

Some say they’ve had money stolen and have reported it to the Department of Children and Families.

Residents like Gabriela Castro have been affected.

Castro has a passion for nails, something that has taken a lot of patience.

“In Ecuador, I would always do my grandmothers and mom’s nails,” she said.

She recently turned her love for nails into a full-time job. But it has been challenging because the number of clients she serves changes each month.

“This month of January, everyone is left with little money because of the holidays, and clients don’t really come to get their nails done," she said. "And this isn’t a constant income."

So, to help supplement what she doesn’t make, she depends on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, to help feed her four children.

But she says just last month that money was stolen from her account.

“I send my children with their lunch to school, so those weeks my children were left without their lunch food, milk and it frustrated me," she said. "And I was left with the question of, 'What can I do now?'"

Castro filed a claim, which she said took about a month to be investigated.

She says DCF returned some, but not all, of the money that was in her account.

Spectrum News reached out to the Department of Children and Families about the issue and it replied in a statement reading in part: ”We have developed a robust state plan to combat fraud and affected recipients can report suspected theft of their SNAP benefits on our website.”

Castro said the department also told her about an app to help protect theft from happening again. She said she will use it when she heads to the grocery store next week.

“Us as parents feel relieved knowing that we have this kind of help to keep our children fed, so anytime this happens it’s upsetting," she said. "But I thank God I can continue to keep food on our table."