ORLANDO, Fla. – The Secret Service is running a massive operation Tuesday and Wednesday, targeting credit card skimmers to crack down on EBT fraud.
Skimmers can be in supermarkets, corner stores, basically anywhere you shop.
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They can swipe money from all credit cards, but EBT cards are especially susceptible because they don’t have chip technology, according to Caroline Obrien-Buster, Special Agent in Charge of the Orlando Field Office.
“To be able to come out here and pull skimmers, educate merchants as to how not to have their customers victimized will be a huge endeavor,” Obrien-Buster said.
The Secret Service teamed up with 10 local law enforcement agencies and fanned out across Central Florida. News 6 was with them.
Investigative Analyst James Burkett uses a device known as a Skim Scan to check an ATM.
It slides in where you would put your card, and if a skimmer is detected, it beeps, and a red light comes on.
He immediately dismantles it, starting with a plastic flap that was taped over the keypad.
“This is where the pinhole camera is, so we’re going to pop this out,” Burkett told News 6. “This is the battery pack and little SD card that’s in here.”
Next, he pulls out the actual skimmer.
The camera records your PIN, and the skimmer gets all the data off your card, Burkett confirmed.
Skimmers are big business for crooks, according to the Secret Service. Skimmers steal an estimated $1 billion per year.
Law enforcement shared surveillance video of a suspect putting a skimmer on the card reader.
It happened recently at a supermarket in Orlando.
Owner Jorge Morales couldn’t believe how quicky it happened.
“That day when we found out, we didn’t even know what to do,” Morales said.
Network Intrusion Forensic Analyst Koriana Thompson uses a device called an Easy Sweep to detect skimmers.
If it goes in smooth, no skimmer. If it doesn’t, there is one.
Thompson says the crooks install them and then come back and download the data and drain your cards.
“They’ll distract the cashier, and they’ll just download the data. It takes seconds,” she said.
The Secret Service has 23 teams on the ground.
They are trying to hit 800 to 1,000 locations Tuesday and Wednesday.