WASHINGTON - In late January, the U.S. Secret Service, alongside law enforcement and government agency partners, conducted a multi-city Electronic Benefit Transfer fraud and payment card skimming outreach operation in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Seattle and Denver.

Teams also distributed educational materials about Electronic Benefit Transfer fraud and skimming to businesses to help them better identify the warning signs of illegal skimming devices.

"This operation was an interagency win. The U.S. Secret Service, and our law enforcement and interagency partners, will not stand by idly while fraudsters prey on vulnerable communities using illegal card skimmers to commit EBT fraud," U.S. Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn said. "This effort demonstrates why a proactive approach to cyber-enabled financial fraud is necessary. By educating businesses, identifying skimming devices, and removing them before valuable data falls into the hands of criminals, we deny their ability to steal benefits from those that need it most."

This is part of a series of Secret Service-led outreach operations that have taken place across the country since April 2024. In 2025, law enforcement personnel removed more than 400 illegal skimming devices during these operations preventing an estimated potential fraud loss of more than $428 million.

Results from each city are below:
Cleveland (Jan. 21): Personnel visited 247 businesses and removed six illegal skimming devices, preventing an estimated potential loss of nearly $6.25 million. More than 1,580 point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs were inspected. Participating agencies included U.S. Secret Service, USDA Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations and the Ohio Investigative Unit.

Cincinnati (Jan. 23): Personnel visited 255 businesses, and while no skimming devices were located, personnel inspected more than 1,500 point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs. Participating agencies included U.S. Secret Service, USDA Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations, General Services Administration Office of Inspector General and the Ohio Investigative Unit.

Seattle (Jan. 27-28): Personnel visited 532 businesses and removed 14 illegal skimming devices, preventing an estimated potential loss of more than $14.5 million. More than 2,770 point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs were inspected. Participating agencies included U.S. Secret Service, USDA Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations, General Services Administration Office of Inspector General, Seattle Police Department and the Washington State Department of Social Help Services.

Denver (Jan 30): Personnel visited 362 businesses and removed 19 illegal skimming devices, preventing an estimated potential loss of more than $19.79 million. More than 2,700 point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs were inspected. Participating agencies included U.S. Secret Service, USDA Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations, General Services Administration Office of Inspector General, FBI, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

Criminals often steal EBT and other payment card numbers by installing illegal skimming devices on ATMs, gas pumps and merchant point-of-sale terminals. Scammers use skimming technology to capture card information from EBT cards and encode that data onto another card with a magnetic strip.

Law enforcement agencies have seen a nationwide increase in skimming particularly targeting EBT cards. Each month, money is deposited into government assistance accounts intended to help families pay for food and other basic items. This enables criminals who steal card information to time their fraudulent withdrawals and purchases around the monthly deposits.

There are several precautions consumers can take to protect themselves:

• Inspect ATMs, point-of-sale terminals and other card readers. Look for anything loose, crooked, damaged, or scratched. Do not use a card reader if anything appears unusual.
• Whenever possible, use tap-to-pay technology or use debit and credit cards with chip technology.
• If using a debit card at a gas station, run it as a credit card to avoid entering a PIN number. If that is not an option, consumers should use their hand to hide their PIN to block scammers who may be using tiny pinhole cameras above the keypad area to record entries. Use ATMs in a well-lit, indoor location, which are less vulnerable targets.
• Be alert for skimming devices in tourist areas, which are popular targets.

# # #