Secret Service agents search 120 Jacksonville businesses for skimmer devices. News4JAX has exclusive access

JACKSONVILLE, FL. – The U.S. Secret Service joined forces with local law enforcement to search 120 businesses in Jacksonville as part of a statewide operation to take action against rampant card skimming.

According to federal agents, fraudsters are now targeting EBT funds, defrauding the nation’s most vulnerable communities.

News4JAX gained exclusive access to a first-of-its-kind U.S. Secret Service operation as agents went on the hunt for skimming devices in Jacksonville.

Federal agents searched Jacksonville from store to store looking for skimmers.

“We are working with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Agriculture. This is a two-level mission for us. The first part of the mission involves identifying, locating and extracting any skimmers found in ATMs, point-of-sale terminals or gas stations. If we find one, we will extract it and take it in for further investigation,” said Peter Andrews, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Jacksonville Field Office.

The second goal of their mission was education.

“We travel around the state spreading awareness about point-of-sale skimmers and ATM skimmers. “‘Have you seen anything like this in your store?'” Andrews asked the Target employee.

Andrews said the more customers and businesses know, the better chance they have of eliminating the problem.

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Over the past 18 months, law enforcement has seen a nationwide increase in skimming, with international criminals successfully targeting EBT, or electronic benefits transfer, cards for people in need of government assistance.

Because there is no contactless or chip technology, SNAP recipients in Florida must always use contactless cards, making it easier for criminals to steal taxpayer money from the most vulnerable in society.

This is the main reason why grocery stores were targeted in this operation. News4JAX asked Special Agent in Charge Chad Balsamo to tell us how he investigates illegal skimming devices.

“I just check to see if there’s anything loose at the top, you know, some extraneous material that shouldn’t be on the device. Then we can insert this skimming checking device that Target provided for their POS terminals, and if there was one, you wouldn’t be able to insert it all the way,” Balsamo said.

Self-checkout machines have been another big focus for federal agents because the convenient terminals give criminals a better chance of capturing the card information of multiple victims.

“So those terminals that are used a lot are more likely to be open than something like the 12 that they probably open around Christmas,” Balsamo said.

Andrews said Florida is a hot spot for scammers using these devices.

“Everywhere from Miami to Jacksonville, we certainly had a lot of skimming device investigations in the Jacksonville field office,” Andrews said.

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Federal agents visited more than 472 Florida businesses as part of an effort to remove illegal skimmers, but no devices were recovered in Jacksonville.

In Orlando, our sister station WKMG was on the scene when police found and dismantled a noise device at a point-of-sale terminal.

A total of 13 skimming devices were recovered across the state. The U.S. Secret Service estimated that their removal prevented a potential loss of $1.3 million.

More than 3,500 terminals, gas dispensers and ATMs were inspected, meaning thousands of business owners have been educated on what to look out for.

“Well, if you ever find a device, you can contact JSO, you can also call us,” Balsamo said.

To protect your money, use debit and credit cards with chip technology or tap to pay wherever possible.

There are fewer illegal skimming devices that can steal data from chips than data from magnetic stripes.