The U.S. Secret Service seized 16 illegal skimming devices from Boston that stopped criminals from stealing $16.7 million in Electronic Benefit Transfer fraud.
Law enforcement personnel between Sept. 23-25 visited 700 businesses throughout the greater Boston area checking for and removing illegal skimming devices from ATMs, gas pumps and point-of-sale terminals.
The recovered skimmers saved a total from all operations of more than $334 million in fraud loss, the Secret Service said in a news release.
They 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.
“The U.S. Secret Service – Boston Field Office, along with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, are steadfast in our commitment to safeguarding the nation’s financial infrastructure and protecting our communities from fraudsters,” said Special Agent in Charge Randy Maloney, of the Boston Field Office. “This proactive operation, and those like it around the country, highlights the level of cooperation needed to combat the criminal enterprises that perpetrate these callous acts.”
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. It is estimated that skimming costs financial institutions and consumers more than $1 billion each year.