San Francisco prosecutors have filed criminal charges against 11 people accused of defrauding government benefit programs out of $4 million, the District Attorney's Office announced this week.

The scheme allegedly involved soliciting people with real electronic benefit cards, known as EBT cards, and charging hundreds of dollars at a time for purchases that were never made, prosecutors said Thursday. The benefits were mostly associated with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP.

The cardholders would allegedly be given half the amount of the fraudulent charge, while the businesses owners and their associates would keep the other half. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, participated in the investigation, along with the city's Human Services Agency, according to the District Attorney's Office.

According to the criminal complaint, people involved with the scheme would walk around the Tenderloin and Mid-Market neighborhoods and shout out "EBT" until someone willing to participate in the payoffs would give them their card. The cards were then allegedly charged at one of multiple businesses in Chinatown and the Tenderloin.

The cases are being prosecuted in three separate filings. Changyi Trading, Fu Yuan, and Da Chang Yuan are accused of fraud of worth about $3 million.

Hoang Le, Runcheng He, and Yulian Luo are accused of perpetrating about $500,000 worth of fraudulent charges.

Dung Ngoc Huyhn, Kuo Hon Wong, Conhi Truong, and Hau Dinh Ho are also accused of charging about $500,000 of fake purchases.

All were charged with multiple felonies.