Woman's Bridge Card was hacked, assistance for the month stolen

DETROIT, Mich. (WJBK) - A Detroit woman claims someone swiped her Bridge card information and stole most of her state assistance for the month.

She was able to get images of the people who fraudulently used her card - but she claims police won't do anything about it.

"If I didn't need it I definitely would not be on it," said Artemaisa Patton.

But Artemaisa Patton says her family has no choice, they depend on state assistance to survive.

Patton and her husband both work but it’s not enough to support their five children. That's why she was devastated to learn someone stole her Bridge Card money for the month.

"I woke up, called something it said call your card," she said. "I called my card, I only had $135 and some change left on my card. I'm like OK I know that's not right because when I left the store, I had $905."

On June 7, Patton says she used her card and spent $19 at a Shell gas station on west Warren in Detroit.

But the next day when she called on her EBT card, she discovered most of her money was gone.

She looked at the transactions and saw someone spent $300 at Greenland Market and more than $400 at Saad Wholesale Meats at the Eastern Market.

"Then they came to the Walmart on Mercury Drive and tried to use the last $135 but they weren't able to because I changed my pin number," she said.

Patton says the owner of Saad Wholesale Meats was nice enough to pull surveillance images of the people who spent her money - and here they are.

Patton says she immediately alerted the state.

"I contacted state of Michigan with the EBT card they said there was nothing they could do for me," she said.  "The state of Michigan doesn't replace benefits at this point.

"I was at a loss for the whole month and I thought I should make a police report."

So she did.

But she says Detroit police weren't any help either, never assigning her case.

"He said 'What do you want us to do,' I want you to investigate this so I can prove I had nothing to do with this," Patton said. "Because at this point I'm taking out cash advances, borrowing money, trying to figure out how I'm going to feed my family for the month because these guys stole our benefits."

The gas station believes someone likely stole Patton's information by standing behind her in line, and memorizing the numbers. They advise more people to be protective of their Bridge Card information.

Patton has learned her lesson, but in the meantime she is out nearly $800 and it appears she will have no way to get it back.

"I'll continue do what I'm doing," she said. "Keep borrowing money, I guess, paying people back until next month comes."

Patton believes there are other victims out there.

FOX 2 contacted Detroit police who confirm her police report. They accept blame and claim someone dropped the ball. The case has now been assigned and the investigation will begin Monday.