Database error leads to 5,000 checks sent to wrong addresses

By Keith Whitcomb Jr.
Staff Writer
WATERBURY, Vt. — A computer error led to the Department for Children and Families sending nearly 5,000 3SquaresVT checks to the wrong people.

DCF made the announcement at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.

According to the announcement, 22,506 people were to be sent an extra check for $286 in December using Coronavirus Relief Funds. These were for 3SquaresVT recipients who weren’t getting any added benefit.

DCF stated the error occurred when the department was checking its database for duplicates. Some names and addresses were mismatched and some checks were mailed out before the error was caught.

“Some checks were mailed prior to the error being realized, so some households may receive a check with their address but not their name,” reads the DCF statement. “These checks have a stop payment on them and cannot be cashed.”

Those who received a mislabeled check can return them unopened at the post office or destroy them. DCF said that new checks will go out during the next few days, and DCF personnel will contact each household to inform them of the error.

Calls to Luciana DiRuocco, public information officer at DCF, were not returned on Friday.

Phil Morin, food security advocacy manager at Hunger Free Vermont, said his group knows nothing of the issue beyond what was in the DCF announcement. Hunger Free Vermont does advocacy and outreach for the 3SquaresVT program, the state name for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP). It doesn’t work directly with people in the program but does work with entities that assist with intakes. He said Friday he hasn’t heard reports from those service providers about any problems or confusion caused by the check error.

“The role we have in this situation was to advocate with the Food Security Coalition and the Reach Up Coalition to advocate successfully to have some of the remaining CRF money to be given to these folks who haven’t otherwise received from 3SquaresVT any additional benefit,” he said, adding that the checks also bore a phone number people could call if they had any questions.

CRF is the money made available through the federal CARES Act to offset the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Various forms of aid were made available to individuals, businesses and other entities, but most lifelines came with a time limit requiring funds to be spent by the end of the year.

According to a previous DCF announcement, these CRF funded checks are a one-time happening and were slated to go out before the end of the month.

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