WASHINGTON - The U.S. Secret Service, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the Nevada State Police Investigation Division, the Nevada Gaming and Control Board, the Clark County School District Police Department, and the Henderson Police Department conducted a payment card skimming and Electronic Benefit Transfer fraud outreach operation in Clark County, Nevada April 3-4.
Personnel visited 125 businesses and removed four skimming devices, preventing an estimated potential loss of nearly $1.3 million. More than 1,100 point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs were inspected. This effort follows a similar operation in Clark County last year.
“EBT fraud continues to target our nation’s most vulnerable populations and the U.S. Secret Service, alongside our partners, is working diligently to educate businesses on how to identify skimming devices,” said Karon Ransom, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Las Vegas Field Office. “Through these operations, the Secret Service and our partners are able to identify and remove these devices, preventing millions of dollars from being stolen from those that rely on it.”
During the operation, personnel 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 in their point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs.
Criminals steal EBT and other payment card numbers by installing illegal skimming devices on ATMs, gas pumps, and merchant point-of-sale terminals. Criminals use skimming to capture card information from EBT cards and then encode that data onto another card with a magnetic strip, such as a hotel key. It is estimated that skimming costs financial institutions and consumers more than $1 billion each year.
Law enforcement agencies have seen a nationwide increase in skimming, particularly targeting EBT cards. EBT fraud targets the nation’s most vulnerable communities. 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 before using them. Look for anything loose, crooked, damaged, or scratched. Don't use a card reader if you notice anything unusual.
• If you use a debit card at a gas station, run it as a credit card instead of entering a PIN. That way, the PIN is safe, and the money isn’t deducted immediately from your account. If that’s not an option, cover your hand when entering your PIN. Scammers sometimes use tiny pinhole cameras, situated above the keypad area, to record PIN 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.
• Use debit and credit cards with chip technology. Chip-enabled cards are less vulnerable to skimming than magnetic strip cards in the U.S.
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